[Peetwo]

AMSA suspends ops on new Manly ferries - 

(CAUTION: Thread drift alert -  )

Courtesy MattO, via the SMH:

Fears problem-plagued Manly ferries will be out of service for weeks

Matt O'Sullivan
October 7, 2022 — 1.45pm

The NSW government’s three problem-plagued Manly ferries are under orders not to carry passengers until an exhaustive process to fix steering faults is completed, sparking concern they will be out of service for many more weeks.

The three new Emerald-class vessels have been out of operation since September 26, after two of them – the Fairlight and the Clontarf – suffered steering failures over two consecutive days.


The three new Manly ferries tied up at the Balmain Shipyards.CREDIT:OSCAR COLMAN

The government has now confirmed that the Australian Maritime Safety Authority has issued directions preventing the three second-generation ferries from carrying passengers until steering faults are fixed and verified.

It has raised fears from ferry watchers that the three catamarans will be out for weeks – if not months – because of the exhaustive process required to meet the safety authority’s standards before they can be returned to service on the popular F1 Circular Quay-Manly route.

Services on the route have been cut from a ferry every 20 minutes to 30-minute frequencies on weekdays because of the withdrawal of the Emerald-class ferries.

Labor’s acting transport spokesman John Graham said the three overseas-built ferries could be out of action for weeks, arguing commuters were paying the price for the government’s procurement policies.


The Clontarf, which is tied up at the Bailmain Shipyard, suffered a steering failure late last month.CREDIT:OSCAR COLMAN

“These serious safety issues are leading to delays. Passengers are seeing delays of at least 10 minutes to catch a Manly ferry, with no end in sight,” he said.

Transport for NSW and French company Transdev, which operates the government-owned ferry fleet in Sydney, have repeatedly declined to say when they expect the three Emerald-class vessels will return to full service.

Transdev said the investigation into the steering problems was continuing, and technical assessments were nearing completion.

“Our priority remains fixing the steering issues and returning the vessels to service as quickly as possible,” it said.

Action for Public Transport spokesman Graeme Taylor said the directive from the maritime safety authority would require a proper diagnosis and fix of the ferries, which remain tied up at the Balmain Shipyard.

“They could be out for months. It is going to be a complicated process,” he said.

Transport for NSW has until early next week to provide Transport Minister David Elliott with a review he ordered into the cause of the steering failure on the Fairlight, and whether it was linked to that on the Clontarf.

The three new catamaran ferries are at the centre of a fierce debate over whether they can handle large swells as well as the larger Freshwater vessels they are designed to replace on the Manly-Circular Quay route. The government plans to retire two of the four Freshwater ferries.

Northern Beaches councillor Candy Bingham, who has campaigned to retain the Freshwater ferries, said it was clear that the second-generation Emerald-class ferries were unsuitable for the route.

“There are too many issues and now the service is unreliable,” she said.

 
Here is a link for the OTSI Pemulwuy LOC final report: https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/tp/fil...arbour.pdf

AMSA

4.6 Review incident reporting, classification and follow up procedures to ensure
incidents are responded to consistent with their level of risk to safety.

Next (via FB) from the Master of the Narrabeen:

Chris Cowper

Looks like French owned Transdev are still having problems with their Chinese built Gen II Emeralds. On Tuesday (15th) "Fairlight", as she was on her final approach to Manly Wharf, had a steering failure. Her highly skilled and experienced Crew were able to engage  Back-up Steering Control and berth her without damage or injury.

I'm told by former Crew Mates, Gen II Emeralds have had several other Steering Failures in recent weeks.
"Balmoral" has had several Steering failures this week.

As I write, I received a message, she has had another Steering failure.

In the past, Transdev Management have tried to convince me a Steering Toggle failure isn't a Steering failure. This is a stupid argument. Made by stupid people.

If the Master of a Vessel experiences a loss of control, through the failure of any equipment, it is a failure of the system.

Berthing a 35 metre, 400 passenger Ferry, is a Safety Critical operation.

Transdev's Masters must be able to have full confidence in all safety systems on their Vessels.
Unfortunately,  history may be repeating itself.

During 2020, Gen I Emeralds suffered several catastrophic steering failures. Probably more than 6 in total.

I was  Master of "Narrabeen" on 2nd July 2021 and witnessed "Pemulwuy"  have a catastrophic Steering failure at high speed.

When, after 12 days, Transdev had not carried out investigations to find the cause of these failures, I reported this incident to AMSA. (Australian Maritime Safely Authority) As a result, OTSI (Office of Transport Safety Investigations) conducted an investigation. All 6 Gen I Emeralds had to have modifications made to their Steering systems.

The OTSI report is on their Website.

For my troubles, I was suspended from duty for 9 weeks.

What are AMSA & OTSI doing about the recent Gen II Steering failures?

Has Transdev reported these incidents to AMSA, OTSI & Sydney Ports?

What is Transdev doing to ensure Gen II Emeralds don't have more Steering failures?

 

Hmm...so what has happened to prompt AMSA into grounding these vessels? 

It would appear that OTSI (the NSW [supposedly independent] Transport Safety Investigator) has racked the cue (since the Pemulwuy OTSI Final Report) on the Emerald class (Gen I & II) requiring further safety risk mitigation with uncommanded steering events - err why..

MTF...P2