Spirit of Tasmania IV steering fault forces tugboat rescue
Brand new ferry Spirit IV lost autopilot steering during its first passenger voyage.
Spirit of Tasmania IV found a steering fault on Wednesday morning. It was preparing to enter Port Phillip Bay from Devonport.
A tugboat escorted the ferry to Geelong. It arrived four hours late.
The problem was in the ship's autopilot system. It could not hold the course.
Spirit V had the same autopilot failure during a trial voyage on October 26. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is now investigating it.
Both ferries are part of Tasmania's $717 million ferry replacement program. The program has faced years of cost overruns.
- 4 hours
- Delay length
- 6am at Geelong
- Scheduled arrival
- 10:20am at Geelong
- Actual arrival
- $717 million
- Program cost
Why it mattersBoth brand new ferries have the same steering fault. This raises safety questions. It weakens confidence in a program that is already hundreds of millions over budget.
AustraliaTasmanians depend on Spirit ferries for vital freight and passenger links to the mainland; steering problems threaten reliability and cast doubt on the government's replacement program.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 4 h ago
