Questions raised over ongoing steering concerns on new Sydney ferries as entire fleet docked

The last vessel in the problem-plagued fleet of Emerald ferries has been pulled off the water with emergency safety inspections to be done after a litany of ongoing failures.

The last vessel in the problem-plagued fleet of Emerald ferries has been pulled off the water with emergency safety inspections to be done after a litany of ongoing failures.

The Balmoral was removed from service on Friday after crews lost confidence in the Emerald class 2 ferries amid repeated steering failures in the fleet, according to the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA).

It joined fellow suspended second generation Emerald vessels the Clontarf and the Fairlight, the latter of which was docked after its steering failed while carrying passengers on November 19.

MUA Sydney deputy secretary Paul Garrett said crews had refused to operate the Balmoral after claiming adequate safety assessments weren’t carried out after the latest steering issue with the fleet.

“Clearly the NSW Government and the private operator of Sydney Ferries are struggling to identify and rectify the cause of the steering failures,” Mr Garrett said.

Balmoral is the last of the Generation 2 Emerald Class ferries to be pulled out of operation. The fleet was designed to replace the iconic Freshwater Manly ferries, but have been plagued with problems. Picture: Transport for NSW

“Our members want to see Sydney Ferries succeed. But the underlying technical faults on these three Emerald Class ferries cannot be ignored and that is why the MUA was been forced to intervene.

“The failure to perform adequate risk assessments on the ferry Balmoral following the steering failure on the Fairlight is out of step with usual safety management.”

Generation 2 Emerald Fairlight battling huge swells at Sydney Heads, before being docked. Picture: Mark Crawley

The Balmoral’s steering previously failed in May, while all three vessels were pulled offline in September in a failed bid to fix the problem.

A spokeswoman for Transport NSW said they were working with ferry operator Transdev “to get these vessels back in service as quickly as possible”.

She also revealed engineering firm DNV had been brought in to conduct an “independent investigation into the root cause of the issue, which is running concurrently with an internal investigation by Sydney Ferries operator Transdev”.

“The audit is expected to be finalised in early December,” she said.

The Emerald-class Generation 1 ferries, including the Victor Chang, remain in operation. Picture: Jim O'Rourke

Labor transport spokeswoman Jo Haylen said “Transport workers shouldn’t have to be in a position where they have to stand up for passenger safety because the government is unable or unwilling to do so.”

“The government must explain why no risk assessment was done on the Balmoral for nearly a week, even though this is a new defect that could affect the whole Emerald Class 2 fleet,” she said.

A spokeswoman for Transdev said the Fairlight remained under investigation after its November 19 but initial findings indicated the latest steering failure was “unrelated to the previous hydraulic failure”.

She added the Clontarf was undergoing planned works due to finish in early December, while the Balmoral will be assessed on Tuesday.

“Manly services are running per the usual timetable and are not expected to be impacted in summer,” she said.

The Manly to Circular Quay route usually run by the Class 2 ferries has been covered by the iconic Freshwater ferry and generation one Emeralds since their docking.