[Peetwo]

New Ferry contract deferred; & OTSI's new convoluted website?? 

Courtesy MattO, via the SMH:

New Sydney ferry fleet purchase delayed, again, after shipbuilders rejected



By Matt O'Sullivan
February 23, 2023 — 3.57pm

The purchase of seven new Sydney ferries will be delayed again after the NSW government rejected shipbuilders that had bid for the multimillion-dollar contract to construct them locally.

The state’s transport agency has told shipbuilders bidding for the contract for the fleet of new Parramatta River ferries that the tender “resulted in no contract being awarded”, and it would now gauge market interest in a new process.


One of the seven RiverCat ferries, which are about three decades old.CREDIT:NICK MOIR

The decision comes amid a state election campaign in which the two major parties have been spruiking plans to boost local manufacturing.

The replacement of the three-decades-old fleet of RiverCats, at a cost of more than $43 million, has already been repeatedly delayed.

The state government initially shelved the purchase of new ferries for the Parramatta River route in 2019 after failing to receive suitable offers from shipbuilders. After the plans were later revived, the purchase was delayed last year because of a lack of an investment decision by the government, which internal documents show was needed to “avoid disruptions to services”.

Bidders for seven new ferries were eventually sought in late November, giving companies until mid-January to submit tenders. The government encouraged bids from local shipbuilders.

However, electric ferry builder EV Maritime said a period of just six weeks over the Christmas holidays had made it difficult for serious bidders to participate.

EV Maritime chief executive Michael Eaglen said the process was made harder by the scope excluding electric ferries, which ruled his company out.

“If the government redesigns the tender, the scope really should include electric ferries. The government has stated that is where the future lies,” he said.

Labor transport spokeswoman Jo Haylen said passengers would be waiting longer for new ferries on the Parramatta River because the government was not serious about the contract.


String of ferry setbacks: The Clontarf was out of services for more than two weeks after suffering a catastrophic engine failure.CREDIT:JAMES BRICKWOOD

“[Transport Minister] David Elliott said that this contract was evidence that domestic manufacturing was back on the Liberal Party’s agenda. The fact that it has now been delayed shows that the Liberals haven’t changed,” she said.

Elliott said local manufacturing and content was at the forefront of the state’s record $76.7 billion investment in transport infrastructure over the next four years, and nothing had changed.

“The tender process for the River-class ferries is being independently managed by Transport for NSW, with the direction from the NSW government that the ferries are to be redesigned and built here in Australia,” he said.

Transport for NSW said the market response to the tender for the seven new ferries “did not meet our expectations or all of the tender evaluation criteria”. It declined to reveal the number of bids received.

“The procurement strategy has been reviewed and Transport is re-engaging with the market,” it said. “The final delivery and service dates will be finalised once the tender has been awarded.”

The project to replace the RiverCats, which can carry up to 230 passengers each, is part of internal government plans for a “right sizing” of the Sydney ferry fleet to “avoid unnecessary costs”. Transport for NSW has estimated in internal documents that there are “at least nine surplus vessels”.

The latest setback for the RiverCat replacement project comes as one of three new Manly ferries, which have been plagued with defects since they arrived in 2021, returned to service on Thursday after an engine was replaced.

The Clontarf had a catastrophic engine failure more than two weeks ago during regular safety drills. Transport for NSW said it was awaiting the results of an investigation into the root cause of the Clontarf’s engine failure.

Hmm...so TfNSW are investigating the Clontarf catastrophic engine failure, for State Regulator purposes,  however OTSI and AMSA apparently are not?? 

AMSA monthly serious incident reports: https://www.amsa.gov.au/vessels-operator...nt-reports (monitor here for this month's publication to see if the Clontarf serious incident turns up - I'm betting it won't)

I note that as of two days ago, with zero fanfare, that OTSI have introduced their new convoluted, un-user friendly, ATSB matching, website -  : https://www.otsi.nsw.gov.au/

Still finding my way around but what is bleedingly obvious is that is a complete change in operational and transport safety investigative philosophy. So much so that I would suggest that the obvious question  is - What the hell do we need OTSI for?? But maybe that is the point and with the philosophical redundancy of OTSI leaves the agency ripe for the takeover by the ATSB??

I question that bureaucratic policy decision when you then consider this statement from the 'Who we are page':

In response to the recommendations of the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Waterfall Rail Accident, the NSW Parliament passed the Transport Legislation Amendment (Waterfall Rail Inquiry Recommendations) Bill 2005 which removed OTSI from ITSRR and created the Chief Investigator as a statutory position reporting directly to the Minister for Transport. OTSI began operating independently on 1 July 2005. 

The separation of OTSI was designed to reinforce the independence of the Chief Investigator, and to give the travelling public and the transport sector a high degree of confidence in the safety of the NSW transport network through the conduct of fair, impartial and balanced investigations.

So OTSI have a formally legislated essential independent statutory role that was designed to address recommendations that came from the Waterfall Special Commission of Inquiry. Not sure how that works for the Popinjay, Walsh, Pelham TSI Nationalisation (ATSB) power grab but IMO it sure sounds murky??   

 Next from the investigation process page I note the following:

In some cases, OTSI may request additional information or review an operator’s investigation report into an incident. This may lead to a number of actions, such as the release of a Safety Alert or Safety Advisory to raise industry awareness of safety issues and action to be taken where there are lessons to be shared.

Perhaps (the above) helps to explain why the CI published this SAN back in August 2021..

 Safety Advisory - Domestic commercial vessel (DCV) steering systems - 31 August 2021

...and why the CI didn't continue with the investigation as OTSI was relying on the Transdev internal SMS investigation reports instead, this despite the fact there was apparently 8 similar (reported to OTSI) serious steering failure occurrences, followed by numerous more in the following year? - OTSI independent? - Yeah right! 

MTF...P2