noble-caledonia.co.uk, 27 May 2017 |
Monday 28 May 2018
Noble Caledonia Limited changes its mind about Port of Yamba-Clarence River?
Noble
Caledonia Limited’s “Australian
Coastal Odyssey” twenty-two day cruise from 9-31 October 2018 -
flying from London to Cairns to Port Moresby, then sailing through the Torres
Strait and down the east coast of Australia to berth in Melbourne before
returning home on 31 October - is still being advertised online and it just got
a lot cheaper.
In an apparent effort
to fill cabins aboard the vessel MV Caledonian Sky, the UK-based cruise line is now offering across-the-board
discounts of £1,000 per two-person cabin.
There has
also been a change in the ship’s itinerary for Day 16 - 24 October this year.
All mention
of entry into Port of Yamba-Clarence River was removed from the cruise line's website sometime between 21 and
27 May and, Trial Bay, South West Rocks inserted instead for both its October
2018 “Australian Coastal Odyssey” and October 2019 “Australian Coastal
Discovery” east coast cruises.
Caledonian Sky has already booked port berths/moorings
in Queensland and Victoria as well as for two of the six official ports along the NSW leg of the 2018 cruise – Port of Newcastle (7am
25 October) and Port of Eden (7am
27 October). There is no published booking for Port of Yamba which requires piloted entry for sea-going ships.
Which has set
Lower Clarence residents to wondering about the reasons for this welcome change of
plan.
Some think it
may be a public relations feint by Noble Caledonia to dampen expression of local concerns and it may yet decide to slip into the Clarence River estuary on
or about 24 October this year.
Others point
to the level of risk always associated with bringing ships like the 5-deck
high, 91 metre long, est. 4,200 gross tonne Caledonian
Sky across the entrance bar while avoiding collision with the culturally
important Native Title reef “Dirrangun” and, the possibility that the cruise line’s
insurance company might not be impressed if that risk were to be realised and
it was faced with a second reef maritime incident in less than nineteen months
involving the same ship.
Given the
protracted negotiations between Noble Caledonia, its insurer and the Indonesian
Government over a reported £350 million ‘fine’ incurred when the
Caledonian Sky damaged over 18,000
sq. metres of pristine coral reef in the Raja Ampat island chain in March 2017, it is understandable that Noble Caledonia Limited may have reassessed the
original “Australian Coastal Odyssey” itinerary and decided it preferred a less
problematic short-stay mooring for Day 16.
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