Tasmania’s freight woes continue to bite producers, despite Mersey II’s Bass Strait services resuming and the appointment of TasPorts’ new King Island service, Bass Island Line.
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Launceston freight business LD Shipping receives calls every week from businesses desperate to ship their produce from Tasmania, as well as inquiries from tourists eager to jump the queue for passenger services.
Les Dick operates freight services from King Island to Stanley and Bell Bay, but said he was constantly asked about availability for other freight and passenger services because there were not enough vessels to meet demand.
“We get contacted weekly from people wanting to know [about freight] and to be passengers,” Mr Dick said.
“We only do freight and TT-Line does passengers. We’re available to shift [goods] anywhere,” he said.
A TT-Line spokesman said while Spirit ships did take freight, they were predominantly passenger vessels.
“TT-Line’s charter is to provide a passenger and passenger vehicle ferry service and a freight shipping service across Bass Strait,” the spokesman said.
“In January this year it carried a record more of than 79,000 passengers, the highest January figure achieved by the company since it started operating Spirit of Tasmania I and II.
“Freight volumes carried in January 2017 increased by six per cent compared to January 2016,” he said.
Freight services came under strain in the state when SeaRoad’s Mersey II ship, which handled the Bass Strait route, spent three weeks off the water to repair silicone paint on its hull.
Mersey II returned to Devonport from dry docks in Sydney late last month, which immediately boosted freight capacity.
Infrastructure minister Rene Hidding said the government had been working with operators to overhaul the Bass Strait overnight freight market under the Tasmanian Integrated Freight Strategy.
“Further increases in freight capacity are being planned by all three overnight freight shippers on Bass Strait. Toll has announced it will bring two larger ships on the run in 2018/19,” Mr Hidding said.
“The Tasmanian government is working with TT-Line on the replacement of the current Spirits with larger capacity vessels and SeaRoad has publicly declared its intention to replace its SeaRoad Tamar with a much larger vessel.
The King Island route was also under pressure when SeaRoad ended its King Island service recently, but the Tasmanian Ports Corporation (TasPorts) introduced new shipping service Bass Island Line to meet the island’s freight needs.
“This followed the failure of the commercial market to offer a reliable and affordable shipping service beyond SeaRoad’s immediate interim service, which concluded on April 2,” Mr Hidding said.
TasPorts CEO Paul Weedon said the Bass Island Line service to and from King Island started this week, with freight services provided by landing craft vessel Investigator.
According to Lloyd’s List Intelligence (LLI), Investigator is a single-hull vessel with an 869 dwt (deadweight tonnage) capacity and with gross tonnage of 1019, whereas the SeaRoad Mersey I has a 4824 dwt capacity and its gross tonnage is reported as 7928.
TasPorts said the Investigator was just over 53m in length and able to carry up to 60 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit), with capacity for livestock, general freight and potentially bulk cargo.
Investigator uses the existing berth at Grassy Harbour and will be loading and unloading at Devonport East Number 3 berth, and the Port of Stanley as required.
“Bass Island Line will provide three sailings from King Island each week to ensure the cargo task is efficiently managed during peak periods,” Mr Weedon said.
“Bass Island Line will deliver containerised, bulk and vehicular cargoes into Devonport East and will deliver livestock only into Stanley. The service will provide a through service to Melbourne and all transhipment costs will be included in a through freight cost rate,” he said.
King Island cargo, excluding livestock, will also be received and delivered from the Devonport East berth, with the Qube facility at Port of Melbourne used for cargo as required.
The TasPort employees undertaking stevedoring activities for SeaRoad and Eastern Lines on King Island will continue in these roles to load and discharge the ship at Grassy for Bass Island Line.
“The [Bass Island Line] team have been mapping the approximate 120,000 tonnes per annum of cargo to be moved, noting the complex diversity of the cargo from bulk fertiliser, fuel and livestock all the way to the small household goods and supermarket needs,” Mr Weedon said.
King Island Shipping Group chair Greg Morris said Bass Island Line customer service staff had spoken with customers about freight needs and costs, but concerns over the capacity and increased prices for the new service had not been addressed.
Prices for bringing freight from Victoria could rise by 20 per cent, as it would have to go to Tasmania first, Mr Morris said.
“There’ll be extra transhipping costs, as cattle will go through Stanley and other cargo will go through Devonport and the TT Line,” he said.
Hazardous freight and fuel would have to go through Toll, as the TT-Line’s Spirits could not take that cargo.
“We are disappointed that they couldn’t come up with a better option, the state seemed to push it sideways,” Mr Morris said.
“We spoke about a replacement vessel and it doesn’t seem the government is offering TasPorts any other support, towards that replacement vessel.
“We think it is an infrastructure issue, which needs infrastructure funding,” he said.
King Island beef producers have asked for another vessel to be considered because they do not believe the Investigator, which has been leased for six months, can cope with demand.
“They talk well, but the reality is that when it hits the ground, instead of investing in a stacker to load 20 containers, they have stuck with an old forklift, which can only load 16 full containers,” Mr Morris said.