Searoad Mersey outbound Devonport for Melbourne.

With its replacement, Searoad Mersey II now in service, Searoad Mersey will fill in for Searoad Tamar will it's in drydock in Fremantle. After that, it will continue to service Grassy, King Island once per week until a replacement is found. During its off time, it will be laided up in Bell Bay.

Searoad Mersey engages in an every second day service between Webb Dock Melbourne, Victoria and 2 East, Devonport, Tasmania carrying general goods, vehicles and livestock. It completes the 437km / 271.5 mile voyage across Bass Strait and through Port Phillip Bay in roughly sixteen hours; departing port at 1600 and arriving at its destination at 0800 the next morning. Searoad Mersey alternates ports with Searoad Tamar.

Searoad Mersey is scheduled to call into the tiny Port of Grassy on King Island once per week. The vessel is the primary supplier of machinery, bulk fuel and other products to the Island and has supply contracts with Hydro Tasmania for diesel fuel requirements used for power generation on King Island.

Searoad Mersey uses a system of “cassettes” onto which containers and other break-bulk freight are loaded. The cassettes are then towed onto and off of the vessel using prime movers that are able to lift these cassettes hydraulically and position them on to the vessel. The vessels have 33 cassettes in their main decks and carry road trailers on the upper deck –  A photo of which can be found here.

GENERAL
IMO: 8914831 | MMSI: 503000035 | Call Sign: VJBA | Flag: Commonwealth of Australia | Registration: Devonport

BUILD AND ALTERATION HISTORY
Singmarine Industries was awarded the $13.3 million contract to build the RORO, Searoad Mersey by Australia National Line on the 29th August 1989. Searoad Mersey's keel was laid on the 6th December 1989 as Hull 178 and was launched on November 29th, 1990.

Searoad Mersey arrived in Melbourne on the morning of 19 April 1991, after the delivery voyage from Singapore and took up its regular service that night.

An image of Searoad Mersey in her original livery pre-lengthening: Link

In the third quarter of 1996, Searoad Mersey underwent lengthening at the Pan-United shipyard in Singapore. The process involved cutting the vessel in half and adding the new midship block between the existing forward and aft sections.

This increased Mersey's capacity from 120 to 186 TEU. This also increased the following measurements from the old ones below
LOA: 91.5m | LBP: 85.1m | GT: 5925t | NT:1178t | DWT: 3287t | TEU: 120

CAPACITY & MEASUREMENTS
Length Overall: 118.39m | Length Between Perpendiculars: 109.35m | Lload: 112.4m | Breath, Moulded: 18.52m | Depth, Moulded: 13.60m | Draught: 5.512m | Freeboard: 8.088m | Deadweight Tonnage: 4,824t | Gross Tonnage: 7,928t | Net Tonnage: 2,378t | Cargo, Total: 4,000t | Ballast: 2669 m³ | Lane Metres: 350m | TEU: 186 | Distillate fuel: 47t | Residual Fuel: 461t

CLASSIFICATION
Type: 320 - Roll-on/Roll-off Carrier | Class Notation: ✠ 1A1 General cargo carrier RO/RO Container E0 under the Det Norkse Veritas Germanischer Lloyd class society | DNV Class Number: 16828

ENGINE
Searoad Mersey is fitted with two four-stroke, single-acting, Wartsila 8R32E main engines each with a maximum continuous rating of 3 280 kW at 750 rpm. Each engine has eight cylinders in line, with each cylinder having a bore of 320 mm, and a stroke of 350 mm. The engines are clutched into individual Volda ACG 680 reduction gearboxes which in turn drive a pair of contra-rotating controllable pitch propellers to give the ship a service speed of 16 knots.

Generators, Main: 2x Yanmar M220L-EN | Generator, Emergency: GMC 6-71T | Generator, Other: Shaft Generator | Propeller: 2x Mono-block Wichma 11CS39PR4-11DS3 | Bow thruster: 1x Bruno UF45 TC | Fuel Consumption: 22t/day at 15kn

OWNER & MANAGER HISTORY
• 2007 Sold/Transferred to Commonwealth Bank of Australia ( Same manager ) Sydney NSW Australia.
• 2005 Sold to Patrick Shipping Pty Ltd ( Same manager ) Sydney Australia.
• 2002 New manager : Searoad Shipping Pty Ltd Melbourne Vic. Australia.
• 1994: Owners: ANL, Managers: ASP Ship management

NOTES OF INTEREST:
• Article: Replacement Vessel
• Report: ATSB Investigation #040 - Fatality on board Searoad Mersey - 1992
• Report: ATSB Investigation #064 - Collision between AM Vella & Searoad Mersey - 1994
• Report: ATSB Investigation #065 - Grounding of Searoad Mersey at northern end of Omagh Reef - 1994
• Report: ATSB Investigation #193 - Equipment failure aboard Searoad Mersey - 2004
• Report: ATSB Investigation #233 - Oxy-acetylene system fire on board Searoad Mersey - 2007
• Report: ATSB Investigation #242 - Near collision between the bulk carrier Ormiston and Searoad Mersey - 2008
• Video: Some good footage of Searoad Mersey on the ship lift
• Video: A short documentary on Searoad Mersey

IMAGE INFORMATION
Nikon D3300 with Nikon 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6 lens | Aperture: f/11 | Shutter: 1/320 seconds | ISO: 200 | Focal Length: 150mm

IMAGE LOCATION
Devonport Pilot Boarding Ground.

INFORMATION SOURCES
• Det Norske Veritas Germanischer Lloyd (DNV GL) Vessel Register
• Maritime Reporter and Engineering News Archive
• SeaRoad Shipping Pty Ltd
• Rightship.com
• Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation reports: #242