COMMERCIAL NEWS | THE BUSINESS END
180 | TRADEABOAT.COM.AU
Transdev has secured the renewal of its
contract, valued at some $1.3-billion, to
operate and maintain Sydney Ferries for nine
further years until 2028.
Transdev has been operating the Sydney
Ferries services, as well as Balmain Shipyard,
through its subsidiary Harbour City Ferries
since 2012. It says the new contract will
deliver a range of new benefits to customers
including more frequent services, new
vessels and a trial of new On Demand
services. To coincide with the new contract
Harbour City Ferries will be rebranded as
Transdev Sydney Ferries.
There are plans to create more than 400
additional weekly services across the network
over the next two years. This includes almost
280 extra weekly trips on the growing F3
Parramatta River route.
To service this route, at least 10 new
Parramatta River Class ferries will be
ordered to replace four SuperCats and two
HarbourCats currently in the fleet. It is also
expected that three more Emerald Class
ferries will be ordered to support growing
demand across the harbour and provided
on a lease basis.
The trial of a new On Demand ferry in the
Bays Precinct will start later this year using
a new MiniCat vessel. It will connect wharves
like Rozelle Bay and Blackwattle Bay to
larger transport interchanges like Pyrmont
and Barangaroo. The learnings from the
On Demand ferry trial will then be used to
refine the service and potentially introduce
additional On Demand zones.
Commenting on this new contract, Thierry
Mallet, Chairman and CEO of TransdevGroup, declared: “This latest contract follows
a series of recent positive developments for
Transdev in Australia; the Sydney Ferries
contract is a clear demonstration of the
quality of the services provided by Transdev
to the Sydney community.”
Transdev Australasia’s CEO Luke Agati
said: “We are proud and delighted to have
been chosen to continue to operate Sydney’s
ferry services, and we are looking forward
to delivering many improvements during
the life of the new contract. We appreciate
that the delivery of the new Sydney Ferries
contract is important, not only to us and our
team of 583 employees but to the 15.3-million
customers who have been choosing to travel
with us each year.”
The new contract commences on 28 July, 2019.Transdev to Invest Under Renewed Sydney Ferries contract
HINEWAI
GOES TO WORK
Float Free EPIRB Helps Save Crayfishers
A float-free EPIRB has been credited as being
critical to the rescue of three crew members from a
commercial crayfishing boat.
Rescue Coordination Centre NZ received the distress
beacon alert from Western Reef, 17 nautical miles
northwest of the Chatham Islands, New Zealand. The
team spoke with the owner – the registered contact- who was ashore and he confirmed that three people
were onboard the 10m Mary Ellen II.
RCCNZ worked with Maritime Radio to broadcast a
Mayday message. Following the call, two fishing boats
headed to the scene, and the Falcon II uplifted the
three crew members out from the bow of the semi-
submerged vessel.
“The owner recently installed the float-free EPIRB
distress beacon on the vessel. The crew reported they
were swamped via the stern by a wave. The skipper tried
to dive down into the boat to access the beacon but wasunable reach it. Fortunately, it deployed automatically
and floated to the surface, transmitting their distress
signal and alerting RCCNZ to their situation,” said Senior
Search and Rescue Officer Dave Wilson.
“The beacon saved their lives,” said Senior Search
and Rescue Officer Dave Wilson. “The only way we knew
they were in difficulty was the alert from the EPIRB
distress beacon – it’s vital to have one on board.”The new ship handling tug Hinewai is now
operational in the New Zealand port of Timaru
after being delivered under its own power
from China, where it was built by Cheoy
Lee Shipyards.
It is the first of a new RAmparts 2500-CL
design from Canadian naval architects Robert
Allan Ltd to be delivered anywhere in the world.
Based on the RAmparts 2500-W design its hull
and skeg have been evolved to provide improved
manoeuvring and side-stepping capabilities.
Hinewai has been outfitted to PrimePort’s
requirements with a split drum winch and dual
aperture staple on the foredeck, a towing hook
and deck crane on the aft deck, and a propulsionsystem delivering nearly 64 tonnes bollard pull
and free-running speed of 12.9kt.
Main propulsion comprises a pair of 1864hp
Caterpillar 3516C diesel engines, each driving
a Schottel SPR 430 fixed pitch Z-drive unit in
azimuthing stern drive configuration.
The accommodations is outfitted to high,
Maritime Labour Convention compliant
standards for up to eight personnel. Master and
Chief Engineer cabins are on the main deck
with three double crew cabins in the lower
accommodations.
The tug is 25.4m long, has an extreme
moulded beam of 11.8m and a maximum draft
of 5.05m.