A Tasmanian fuel company has pitched a plan to refuel Australia’s Antarctic icebreaker in Hobart using road tankers, potentially saving hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
Tas Petroleum general manager Nathan Thurlow said the RSV Nuyina can not access the marine fuel depot at Selfs Point because the ship won’t be piloted under the Tasman Bridge due to safety concerns.
Instead, the vessel has been travelling 674 kilometres to Burnie to refuel since 2023, adding around $875,000 to its annual fuel bill in recent years.
Thurlow said his company could deliver fuel by road tanker at Macquarie Point, where the Nuyina is based.
“We put 500,000 litres on the Scenic Eclipse here a couple of months ago at Mac Point in 10 hours and that was just via road tanker,” he told Pulse.
“So the way that we propose to do it will be twice as quick as that and we can push big volumes on in short amounts of time.”
Thurlow said the work would preferably be done after hours to avoid traffic disruptions, and estimated each refuelling run would take around seven hours.
He said he had written to government officials about the proposal. But both the state and federal governments have poured cold water on the road tanker idea.
“The Tasmanian government is having discussions with Tas Petroleum but as it stands the Federal government has ruled out the use of road tankers,” a Tasmanian government spokesperson told Pulse.
“The Tasmanian government respects the Federal government’s decision to continue refuelling in Burnie and will continue to work in good faith with the AAD [Australian Antarctic Division] to identify a mutually agreeable enduring solution that represents value for money.”
AAD head Emma Campbell acknowledged the Nuyina has previously used road tankers for “top-ups” prior to shorter voyages.
But for a “major refuel”, Campbell told the hearing it “would be quicker to go to Burnie.”
At a Senate estimates hearing, the federal environment department’s deputy secretary Sean Sullivan said no agreement had been reached on an alternative.
“I’m not sure about how long it’s going to take to resolve the issue,” Sullivan said.
“Tasmania gave us an interim solution and we are still pursuing a longer term solution that will allow us to refuel the Nuyina in Hobart.”
