Spirit of Tasmania IV arrives four hours late after fault
A tug escorted the ferry to Geelong, while a separate autopilot incident involving sister ship Spirit V remains under investigation.
Spirit of Tasmania IV docked in Geelong about four hours behind schedule on 5 November after a fault prompted a tugboat escort. Operator TT-Line said the captain detected the problem while preparing to enter Port Phillip Heads.
The ferry had sailed from Devonport and was scheduled to arrive at 6am, but reached the terminal about 10.20am. It had begun carrying passengers on its first voyage on Saturday.
TT-Line chief executive Chris Carbone said the delay reflected the time needed for a tug to reach the ferry from Geelong. The company said technicians had been engaged to diagnose the fault, and it would notify the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
Separately, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating an autopilot steering problem aboard Spirit V during a trial voyage near Point Henry on 26 October. The ship carried 94 crew, 20 passengers and freight vehicles.
The bureau said the autopilot was slow to respond to a turn. Changes to its settings increased the turning rate, but the system then could not stop the turn. After steering was switched to manual, further attempts to control the heading led to oscillations and the ship briefly crossed the channel boundaries.
Spirit V was stopped before continuing its outbound journey. The bureau expects its final investigation report in the second quarter of next year.
