Nation’s new icebreaker to reach Hobart

After several delays and a 24,000km ocean voyage, Australia’s new $529 million icebreaker will finally reach its Hobart home.

But plans to welcome the RSV Nuyina with a River Derwent flotilla and waterfront party when it arrives on Saturday morning have been scuttled by a snap southern Tasmania three-day lockdown.

Restrictions in response to a coronavirus-infected man’s hotel quarantine breach have forced the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) to call off public ceremonies.

“Tasmanians will now no longer be permitted to greet the new ship from the waterfront or out on the River Derwent,” the AAD said in a statement.

“Planned activities at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and Waterside Pavilion will close for the duration of the lockdown.”

Regardless, the Nuyina is set to significantly boost Australia’s research and re-supply capabilities on the frozen continent.

The 160m-long vessel can carry 117 expeditioners and 1.9 million litres of fuel and is a significant upgrade to predecessor the Aurora Australis.

Nuyina had to be towed from Romania, where it was built, to southern Holland for sea trials after the travel of specialists was hampered by COVID-19 restrictions.

It left the Netherlands in early September for the voyage south across the Atlantic.

It will undergo a period of testing, including ice trials in Antarctica, before likely commencing a re-supply and scientific trip this summer.

The vessel, named after an Indigenous word for southern lights, was originally expected to arrive in Tasmania in 2020, and suffered building delays prior to COVID-19.

Four coins, including an Australian 50 cent piece were welded into the ship’s hull, as per maritime tradition, during early construction in 2017.

A temporary re-supply vessel chartered last summer caught fire in the Southern Ocean and was forced to limp to Western Australia with returning expeditioners aboard.

Nation’s new icebreaker to reach Hobart
Independent Information