Legislative Council, Thursday 27 October 2022

Ms FORREST question to LEADER of the GOVERNMENT in the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, Mrs HISCUTT

With regard to the Bass Island Lines and shipping services to King Island for the past two years, please provide:

(a) the advertised sailings including dates and scheduled arrival times in King Island and Devonport;

(b) the actual sailings, including dates and scheduled arrival times in King Island and Devonport; and

(c) where the schedule differed from the actual, please provide reasons for each alteration?

ANSWER

Mr President, I thank the member for the question.

(a) Given the resourcing required to address this question at the level of detail requested, BIL has reviewed the scheduled sailings since commencing the transit from Devonport to Grassy on 14 March 2022.

(b) BIL is a weekly service and has called in to Grassy on 36 occasions out of 32 weeks, as at 24 October 2022.

(c) While BIL strives for a routine schedule of Monday and Tuesday, BIL assesses any weather-related risks and adjusts the schedule accordingly with timely updates to the cargo owners. The north-bound sailing schedule is Monday and the south bound sailing schedule is Tuesday.

There have been 16 occasions when sailing from Devonport has been delayed and that was an average of 1.5 days due to poor weather when it was not suitable for a safe transit for the ship or its cargo, that is including livestock.