Community
22 October, 2023
Lifeline for Cape York
THOUSANDS of families on Cape York and in the Torres Strait islands will be able to stock up on supplies ahead of the wet season thanks to shipping company Sea Swift’s new vessel, the Newcastle Bay, which will deliver up to 200 extra containers to remote communities.
With an official launch on Tuesday, at wharf 7 on Dutton St, Sea Swift introduced the community to one of the largest and fastest vessels in their fleet.
With a length of 99.8m, a top speed of 16 knots and capacity for 200 containers, the Newcastle Bay is looking to bridge the gap in schedule and supply in the remote Far North.
With its first trip expected to take place in the last week of October, Sea Swift is aiming for the Newcastle Bay to deliver enough supplies to remote communities ahead of the wet season.
“What this vessel will mean to the community, is redundancy, it’s faster, it’s efficient, we can get the containers on and off a lot easier, so it’ll bring more efficiency to the process. That’s what you want, to replace the old for new,” said Darren Lambourn chief operating officer at Sea Swift.
“It’s all about speed, we want to get our cargo quicker and more efficiently than ever before,” he said.
“It’s also well prepared for the wet season which is why we wanted to get it into service as quick as possible to have productivity ahead of the wet season.
“What we want is to provide services to remote regions who dearly need our services, because sometimes we don’t realise how much they rely on us.”
Newcastle Bay master mariner Bryce Ikin said he was excited to take the vessel out for its first trip up north.
“I think it’s a very special time for Sea Swift to bring a new vessel to remote communities and continue to engage closely with these communities,” he said.
“We currently have a crew of 14 because we’re holding lot of training to get the crew used to the vessel and once, we’re fully up and running, it’ll be a ship crew of 12.
“The logistics of the new vessel will allow us to ensure that if there are problems with cargo supply, we can close that gap because we only have to have this vessel for one trip north and that’ll be the cargo for the whole local community up there for a week or two.”
The vessel will ship cargo up to the Cape ranging from fuel to essential goods, automobiles and more.
Watch the video at www.cairnslocalnews.com.au
