At 11pm on February 28,the MS Borealis left White Bay Cruise Terminal,passing under the Harbour Bridge. Fifty minutes later,it suffered a blackout while navigating the western channel near South Head.
Six people are still missing and presumed dead 24 hours after a bridge collapsed in Baltimore,US.
Port Authority records indicate that the 238-metre vessel operated by Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines drifted for “one mile … under pilotage”,according to an unnamed source who had seen a report but was not authorised to comment publicly. The Borealis was then “anchored off the heads for several hours” before power was restored,the source said.
A Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines spokesman said:“Shortly after leaving Sydney,Australia,at 11.50pm (AEDT) on 28th February,our ship Borealis lost power for a short amount of time.
“Our on-board technical team worked hard to establish the cause and restored all systems quickly. The ship returned to full operational power and continued its onward world cruise itinerary as planned.”
A power failure also crippled the Singapore-flagged container ship MS Dali as it departed the Port of Baltimore on Tuesday,Most of the structure collapsed into the chilly Patapsco River,and six maintenance workers who were on the bridge at the time are presumed dead.
The Borealis cruise ship,operated by Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines Ltd.Bloomberg
The ship did not have a tug boat to assist its passage out of the harbour.
When a vessel is operating within the confines of a port,the ship’s master,who is usually responsible,hands over control to a pilot with extensive knowledge of the local waters. The pilot assumes responsibility for the ship’s “conduct” until it is moored or reaches open water.
However,in Sydney Harbour,tankers and cruise ships have at least one tug to help manoeuvre the vessel until it has almost reached the open sea.
Professor Wije “Ari” Ariyaratne,the man who for almost two decades managed the potential risks threatening the 6000 bridges in NSW,said any ship headed for the Harbour Bridge pylons would probably run aground before inflicting damage.
The Dali container vessel after striking the Francis Scott Key Bridge.Bloomberg
“We don’t have a pier in the middle of the channel,” said Ariyaratne,the state’s director of bridges and structures between 2000 and 2019.
“[Sydney Harbour Bridge engineer John] Bradfield made a two-pier arch,and the bearings for the two piers are located on land. We in Sydney are very lucky. We have got very strong sandstone that anchors the bridge.”
The other hypothetical risk would be an oversized cruise ship trying to pass under the bridge for White Bay rather than pulling into the Overseas Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay. Many large cruise ships are 60 metres tall,and the largest reach heights of 73 metres. The shipping clearance level for the bridge is 49 metres.
During the February incident,the Borealis had almost reached the heads of Sydney Harbour when the tug detached its cable from the liner,as planned. The vessel then lost power,but the tug was unable to reattach the cable to the ship.
The vessel – which was built as the Rotterdam in 1997,has a gross tonnage of 61,849 tonnes and carries some 1400 passengers – previously lost power in 2004 when all four engines failed during Hurricane Karl on a transatlantic crossing. Several passengers were injured.
Renamed Borealis,the ship was acquired by Fred. Olsen in 2020 and “redecorated and refurbished … to meet the high standards of the Olsen family”,the company website states.
The maritime source said blackouts are rare,but they do happen.
A spokesperson for Transport Minister Jo Haylen said NSW has some of the world’s best-trained marine pilots and tug operators and “some of the most robust procedures in the world.”
“Our people and processes have been tested in the past. Sometimes,our tug operators are called upon in the very worst of conditions … They do a phenomenal job protecting lives and maritime infrastructure.”
