Sydney ferry fleet’s horror fortnight sparks major review

Transport officials will launch a review into NSW’s troubled Emerald ferries after one vessel was out of action three times in a week with oil and fuel leaks and another’s steering failed.

A review has been launched into the plagued Emerald Class ferries after a horror fortnight of defects in which one boat suffered steering failure and another sprayed fuel and hot oil into the engine bay after springing a leak.

The failures are the latest in a string of issues impacting the fleet of boats bought to replace the Freshwater Class Manly Ferry.

Fed up with repeated problems, Transport for NSW (TfNSW) is now reviewing issues with the fleet and exploring building the next suite of vessels in Australia.

“We are frustrated by the fact these ferries are going out of service on a too regular basis,” TfNSW chief operations officer Howard Collins, told The Telegraph.

“We’re reviewing their performance and defects.”

NSW’s state of the art Emerald ferries will be the subject of a review from Transport bureaucrats. Picture: John Grainger

The Balmoral Emerald Class vessel suffered a major steering failure on Wednesday morning, while the Fairlight has been docked twice in the last two weeks after cracks were discovered in her fuel tank.

The Clontarf was docked three times last week after developing a crack in its lubricating oil system on Wednesday, causing hot oil to spray around the engine room, which triggered fire alarms.

It returned to service a day later after being repaired but a similar issue occurred, with the Master terminating the trip and taking the vessel back to Balmain Shipyard.

After being repaired again the Clontarf was back in service on Friday, only to be pulled offline again when another crack was found in the fuel tanks of the vessel.

The Fairlight was docked once early last week after its fuel tank cracked, with a quick fix failing and forcing the vessel off the seas on Thursday.

While the generation two ferries were fitted out in Port Macquarie, the bodies were built in China.

The 'Clontarf', has been docked three times in a week due to fuel and oil leaks. Picture: Toby Zerna

“We are looking for the next generation of fleet and we are very focused along with Transport Minister David Elliott with sourcing the next fleet from Australian shipbuilders,” Mr Collins said.

“We do believe working with Australian builders we’ll have a better product, and the ability to monitor them during manufacturing.”

Labor’s transport spokeswoman Jo Haylen said “another day brings yet another disaster on the Government’s overseas built emerald class Manly Ferries”.

Transport for NSW chief operations officer Howard Collins. Picture: Christian Gilles

“We can now add cracked pipes and fire hazards to the long litany of defects plaguing these vessels. Currently they seem to be spending more time in dock than actually getting passengers from A to B.”

It comes after The Telegraph on Wednesday revealed doors on the Emerald ferries had to be locked in high wind conditions due to them slamming shut dangerously hard, with an industry source saying a slamming door “near took off a passenger’s fingers”.

It’s the latest concern for the second generation Emerald ferries which have been plagued by problems in the seven months since they were brought into service.

The ferries have been plagued with problems and setbacks since they were launched.

Premier Dominic Perrottet leapt to the defence of the trouble-struck vessels on Wednesday.

“These are world class ferries that are much, much better and advanced than the ones they replaced,” he said.

“There will always be difficulties, but these aren’t substantive. They are minor.”

A spokeswoman for Transdev, operators of the ferries, confirmed the Clontarf and Fairlight were docked for repairs last week.

“The vessels Clontarf and Fairlight were both recently taken out of service for repair by our maintenance teams due to technical issues,” she said.

She said there were no safety concerns in relation to the generation two Emerald vessels and they were compliant with national standards.

“Teams monitor vessels for such issues daily and the appropriate actions were taken,” she said.