Wild weather has hampered repairs to the broken Basslink cable, and if the conditions continue the company says the return to service date may have to be extended.
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The repair vessel won't be able to return to the fault site until next week. The vessel has been on standby since April 29 due to severe conditions on Bass Strait. The company said on Friday the earliest the vessel can depart Geelong is next week.
“As previously advised, the jointing works take place on the deck of the vessel and are highly susceptible to weather conditions,” the company said in a statement.
“There are two joints to be completed, and each joint requires a window of relatively calm sea conditions and clear weather of six continuous days to allow such works to be completed safely. Bad weather or rough sea state can damage the cable, result in abortive jointing works or pose unnecessary occupational, health and safety risks for the repair.”
The company said the cable should still be fixed by mid-June, but if there was further wild weather the contingency days would be exhausted and the return to service date would be extended.
