Better to wait until a serious accident happen?
The closest powerful AHTS to New Zealand is probably one located on the West Coast of Australia or in Singapore.
Singapore is about 5000 NM away from New Zealand, it would take a powerful AHTS about 16 days to reach there at full speed.
Investing in a powerful AHTS of at least 150t bollar pull would be a worth while investment. The running costs are a fraction of what it would cost to clean up the pollution from a ship going around.
Maybe cooperation with Australia would be feasible?
A common Rescue tug stationed in Tasmania would be a reasonable distance from the NSW, Victoria and SA coast, as well as NZ:
Port of Hobart, Australia to Port of Brisbane, Australia: 1182 nautical miles.
Port of Hobart, Australia to Port of Albany, Australia: 1503 nautical miles .
Port of Hobart**Australia to Lyttelton Port of Christchurch, New Zealand: 1383 nautical miles".
PS> There are still some offshore oil & gas activity in the Bass Strait (mostly decommissioning?) and the GAB that may need protective coverage:
Source:
There is a possibility that the new government will reopen the door to oil and gas exploration and drilling.
I don’t know who is going to be around to do it , the young have up sticks and moved to Aussie and the rest retired.
The Royal New Zealand Navy has an annual budget of NZ$714 million.
It would be pocket change to incorporate a powerful AHTS into that naval budget. Would be a worthwhile investment as an insurance policy against environmental disaster.
The Icelandic government recently did exactly that. They bought two powerful AHTS and incorporated them into their coastguard.
The Australian coastline emergency towage response is divided into 11 regions with primary response being supplied by the separate and adjacent major port towage providers. This is managed by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority and the contracted response is funded via the Protection of the Sea charge levied on visiting vessels.
The majority of traffic transiting NZ waters moves up and down the east coast. One response tug could be stationed at Napier and one at Lyttelton with a similar levy placed on visiting vessels by Maritime New Zealand. If there was to be an issue on the west coast they could get there via Cook Strait. Surely NZ can arrange this.
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We are still getting over a government that couldn’t run a bath. The new government have had their feet under the table for a week. Hopefully something can be sorted.
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Michael,
The Kiwis have always been a progressive and innovative country and I have no doubt that you will get it sorted. Sadly, at some juncture we are all burdened and hamstrung by lightweight bureaucrats and their political masters……
It may take a big casualty on a lee shore to spill some black stuff in order to get some political movement but at the end of the day the funding is not the responsibility of the NZ taxpayer but that of the end user……the shipowner.
Good luck with it.
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New Rescue vessel for Torres Strait and Great Barrier Reef is coming:
https://media.amsa.gov.au/media-release/future-emergency-response-vessel-secured-torres-strait-and-great-barrier-reef
No building yard mentioned yet.