ANL-Sofrana has been forced to abandon the first planned voyage of Scion Mafalda in the WestPac service due to prolonged repairs to the AMSA-detained vessel in Port Botany.
In a notice to customers issued late yesterday ANL said the previously advertised shortened inaugural WestPac voyage would now not take place and instead the ship would proceed direct to Tauranga to be ready to commence its phase in voyage from there, “bringing the WPAC service to a fortnightly, 3-vessel product”.
Cargo that is currently in Brisbane that was due to load on Scion Mafalda V3525 will now load on the ANL Mount Wilhelm V0525N, ETA Brisbane 14 December, ETA Lae 23 December, the line advised.
ANL Mount Wilhelm will also uplift the cargo destined for Honiara, and this will be transhipped in Lae to the Baldur V15 for delivery to Honiara in early January. Cargo that is in Sydney will be moved to Brisbane to meet the Baldur V15 for delivery.
“We deeply regret the disruption that the unavailability of the Scion Mafalda to join the WestPac service has caused, particularly at this time of year,” ANL said. “Unfortunately though this has been completely out of our control while the owners worked with contractors and local authorities to repair the vessel prior to it joining the WestPac service.
“We thank you for your understanding during this difficult time, and your continued support as we commit to moving forward with providing a regular fortnightly service on this trade. Please check our on-line schedules for updated information on dates.”
The 1,102 TEU Scion Mafalda ship originally arrived Port Botany on 22 November in the course of an extra-loader repositioning voyage from Singapore, during a transfer from ANL’s northern Australia-focused PAX 1 loop to the ANL-Sofrana WestPac service.
The ship was detained “due to a failure of the safety management system to effectively maintain the ship and equipment”, according to AMSA.
The Liberia-flag Scion Mafalda, built 2015, is listed by Equasis as owned Nordic Ems GmbH & Co and managed by Nordic Hamburg Shipmanagement, both of Hamburg.