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King Island Courier
THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2024
Duigan gets tugboat dock assist
ABOVE: Grassy Harbour on King Island.
LEFT: The vessel John Duigan unloads at
Grassy.
THE John Duigan returned
to King Island this week and
was assisted by the Leaders
Creek tug to enable it to dock
in Grassy.
The TasPorts/Bass Island
Line-owned John Duigan is
unable to dock in Grassy due
to an infrastructure failure,
surge and a safety incident that
occurred in July. BIL general
manager Kate Daley said that
King
the John Duigan is scheduled to
return to Grassy, where it will be
assisted by a 16-tonne tugboat
until Grassy Port infrastructure
upgrades are complete.
“For the past three weeks,
TasPorts’ engineering team has
been working hard to identify
upgrades needed to Grassy
Port to reduce the risk of future
bollard failures,” she said.
“In tandem, the engineering
Island
Courier
A Beacon for the Community
Editor: Pam Rolley
0459 749 351
Email: pam.rolley@fontpublishing.com.au
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GPO Box 1048, Hobart, Tas. 7001
Advertising and Classi昀椀eds
James Young
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Email: james.young@fontpublishing.com.au
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Pam Rolley
pam.rolley@fontpublishing.com.au
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King Island Courier
team has also been assisting
BIL to identify strategies to
safely return the John Duigan.
Engineering analysis showed
that a tugboat is likely to assist in
reducing the tension on mooring
lines during the arrival and
departure sequence, enabling
the John Duigan to safely use
the existing infrastructure within
reasonable weather parameters.”
The tugboat Leaders Creek
has been arranged by TasPorts.
Speci昀椀c details on costs were
not provided by TasPorts.
“Leaders Creek will be
moving between the 昀椀sherman’s
wharf at Currie and Grassy
Port,” she said.
TasPorts has commenced
work on infrastructure upgrades
at Grassy Port and has indicated
to BIL that towage services will
be necessary until the project
is completed and the Harbour
Master is satis昀椀ed from a safety
and operational perspective.
The owner of Eastern Line
Shipping Warren Dick, said
they were prepared to be on
standby.
“We are a Tasmanian
company, our associated operational costs are in Tasmania and
the ship’s supplies are sourced
in Tasmania,” he said.
Government will
back Rex 昀氀ights
THE Federal Government
will guarantee regional
昀氀ight bookings on troubled
Rex Airlines.
Plans for the sale of the
airline are under way.
“Travellers can continue
to book regional 昀氀ights on
Rex during this [administration] process with
certainty that they will
either fly or get their
money back,” Transport
Minister Catherine King
said.
“This is not a Commonwealth injection of
funds into Rex or the
administrators.
“It is a guarantee for
bookings made after
the airline entered into
voluntary administration,”
she said.
“The guarantee will only
be triggered if a service is
cancelled and where no
alternate service has been
delivered, and no refund if
the guarantee is triggered,”
she said.
The government and
administrators Ernst and
Young said this was to
give travellers con昀椀dence
in bookings over the next
month.
They have confirmed
that Rex would continue
flying their regional
routes during the administration period which
includes to and from King
Island.
EY held the first
creditors meeting within
eight days of their
appointment and creditors
were told that Rex’s debts
totalled $500 million,
owed to 4,800 creditors
and they had launched
an asset sale and buyer
search.
Many of the creditors
are employees, suppliers
and passengers whose
昀氀ights were cancelled.
Creditors range from
small businesses, council-owned airports,
regional airport ground
staff, travel agents,
and accommodation
providers, through to
Flight Centre which is
owed $10.5m.
More than 600 people
including 251 regional
jobs were immediately
slashed on July 30.
Flight and cabin crew
were told Rex had no
money to pay their 昀椀nal
wages or entitlements.
Aircraft, including Saab
340s (which service the
King Island route), that
were not in operation,
buildings, land and a
simulator are being
assessed to “realise and
recover value from them”.
EY reported that multiple
issues led to the airline’s
fall.
These include pilot and
engineering shortages;
supply chain issues, particularly engine parts for
the aged SAAB 340 with
aircraft grounded and kept
out of service; expansion
into the highly competitive
capital city 昀氀ight market
routes, funding and the
purchase of Boeing 737s
to 昀氀y those concentrated
routes.
The board shakeup and
dysfunction emerged in
June. Lim Kim Hai was
voted out as executive
chairman and remained a
non-executive director and
a major shareholder in the
airline.
In July, Lim moved
to have four directors
removed from the board,
including chair John Sharp.
EY continues to urge
passengers to keep booking
regional 昀氀ights.
“The airline is being put
forward as a ‘Rex for the
future’ and buyers will
look at that as they see 昀椀t,”
EY Partner Sam Freeman
said.
Prospective buyers have
until August 30 to lodge
binding buyout offers for
the carrier.
