Tourism Industry |
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NEWS
BULK DISTRIBUTION News in this edition:
NEW COMPANY CONFIDENT IT'S 'ON TRACK' DESPITE DELAYS IN VESSEL PURCHASE: A company new to Antarctica, which announced in July that it intended to purchase the Vladivostok, Russia, based vessel 'Olga Sadovskaya' for Ross Sea tour operations commencing next January, says that it is confident of its future despite delays in acquiring the vessel. Plans released by the Southern Australian Shipping Company (SASCO) involve using the vessel to conduct two 21-day voyages from Hobart, Australia, to the Ross Sea, in January-February 2000, in the first of what it sees as a multi-year operation. Original SASCO plans called for the vessel to be in Hobart in the first half of September, however it is still in Russia and the purchase is yet to be finalised. Director and co-owner, John Webb, told ANAN today that despite the delay he was "confident that the company's plans will be realised". He said that further talks are planned with 'Sadovskaya' owners, the Far East Shipping Company (FESCO) of Vladivostok, in Japan later this week to finalise details. According to Webb, monies for the purchase are available to SASCO, however FESCO's currently has a contract for the ship for ferry operations between Japan and Russia for at least another month. Media reports have put the expected purchase price at around $US2.0M however that figure cannot be confirmed by ANAN. Once the purchase is completed, SASCO's plan calls for the 'Sadovskaya', to be renamed 'Southern Australis', and for it to reposition to Australia where an internal refit is scheduled prior to the commencement of Antarctic tour operations from Hobart on 6 January. John Webb says that he is confident that despite current difficulties there is still time for the ship to be prepared for the Antarctic season, and that it can attract sufficient passenger interest to make the 1999-2000 voyages viable. The current FESCO contract, and the potential associated delay in moving the ship to Australia in the near future, has the potential to affect SASCO's plans however. The concept announced by the company involves voyages with four to five landings in the Ross Sea region as well as visits to sub-Antarctic Macquarie and Campbell Islands on the southward and northward legs respectively. 'Sadovskaya', which was built in Yugoslavia in 1977, is 100 m long, has a gross registered tonnage of 4,250, is ice strengthened and has a bulbous bow. Currently she can carry 130 passengers, however SASCO have indicated that it will only embark 100 for Antarctic voyages, plus ten expedition staff and a crew of fifty. According to the company they plan to register the ship in Tonga. 'Sadovskaya' is the sister ship of other vessels which have been used in Antarctica for the tourist trade, including 'Alla Tarasova', now the 'Clipper Adventurer' operated by Clipper Cruise Lines, and the 'Lyubov Orlova' which is to be used by Marine Expeditions of Canada in the coming season. SASCO, which is preparing an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for evaluationt by Australian authorities, has also indicated that it intends to apply to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) for Provisional membership. Preparation of both documents is running well behind schedule and the Australian Antarctic Division is concerned there will be insufficient time to assess the EIA and liaise appropriately with other Antarctic Treaty nations who operate in the region where 'Southern Australis' voyages are planned. SASCO recently hired a specialist consultant to prepare the relevant information for submission. If the two 'Southern Australis' voyages proceed, it will bring to four the number of tourist vessels which will are expected to operate in the Ross Sea next season. In addition to any SASCO voyages, 'Kapitan Khlebnikov' will conduct two voyages in December and January, 'Akademic Shokalskiy' two in January-February, and 'Marco Polo' one in February as part of a semi circumnavigation between the Antarctic Peninsula and New Zealand. SASCO is currently based in Adelaide, Australia, however it expects to relocate to Hobart by 7 October where it proposes to lease office space from the 'Antarctic Adventure' commercial visitor centre close to the wharf area. [ANAN-5/01]
USHUAIA ANTARCTIC VISITORS COULD TOP 10,000: Analysis of known 1999-2000 ship-based tour operations indicates that if passenger load factors of the last few years are sustained, the number of Antarctic tourists passing through the southern Argentinian port of Ushuaia next season could increase by between 10 and 20% to well in excess of 10,000. The expected visit in the same season of three larger than average cruise vessels, 'Aegean I', 'Ocean Explorer I', and 'Rotterdam', on 'round the world' cruises to the port for the Antarctic legs of their voyages is the key factor in the potential increase. Even if those vessels are not included in the calculations however, an increase in excess of 5% in passenger numbers appears possible for standard expedition-type tour operations from Ushuaia. At least 114 voyages conducted by nineteen tour vessels with a total passenger capacity in excess of 13,700 for departures and 12,500 for arrivals, are currently expected to operate from and to Ushuaia. Argentina's Tourism Board of Terra Del Fuego (TBTF) reported in June that 9,139 Antarctic passengers travelled through Ushuaia in 1998-99. According to TBTF figures fourteen Antarctic tour ships operated a total of 93 voyages from the port last year. Although no information is currently available on booking trends for 1999-2000, TBTF data indicates that the average ship passenger loading on voyages from Ushuaia over the last seven years has been around 82% (78% last season). Initial data for the 1999-2000 season posted by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) on their web site indicates a similar estimate for loadings next season. If these loading rates are applied to anticipated berth capacity, between 10,200 and 11,300 Antarctic-related passengers could pass through the port in 1999-2000. The ship load factor would have to fall to an average as low as 70% if last year's overall Antarctic passenger numbers through Ushuaia are not to be exceeded. Even without the three large passenger ships mentioned above, over 9,500 passengers could pass through the port on the other, smaller, 'expedition' vessels. Of the Antarctic ships currently expected to operate from Ushuaia in 1999-2000, eight carry 100 passengers or less, seven between 101 and 299, and four over 300; the latter consisting of the above larger ships plus the 'Marco Polo'. Over the 135 day season from 3 November to 16 March, Antarctic tour ships are expected to be in Ushuaia on at least 77 days, with three vessels present on a single day on a number of occassions. Towards the end of the year four ships, including the large vessel 'Ocean Explorer I', are anticipated as being at Ushuaia on the same day. In addition to the shipping summarised above, Ushuaia also expects to see a number of large, non-Antarctic passenger vessels pass through for visits to the region. They include: 'Switzerland', 'Norwegian Crown', 'Royal Princess', 'Seabourn Sun', 'Stella Solaris', 'Crystal Harmony' and 'Costa Allegra'. With the exception of 'Rotterdam', these ships are much larger than any of those those which plan Antarctic visits. Ushuaia has been the major tourism gateway to Antarctica for ship-based operations over the past decade. TBTF estimates that almost 50,000 Antarctic tourists, or 83% of all Antarctic ship-borne tourists, have passed through there in the past seven years. In 1998-99 a total of 99,813 tourists visited Ushuaia, however only 9% were Antarctic tour related. Of those who visit to embark and disembark from tour vessels, only around 40% stay in the town for more than the day involved in ship transfers. Facilities in the port and nearby airport have been up-graded in recent years as a result of increased tourist related shipping activity in the region. [ANAN-5/02]
OTHER GATEWAY PORTS WELL BEHIND USHUAIA IN NUMBERS: Apart from Ushuaia, twelve other ports around the southern hemisphere are expected to see tourist vessels use their facilities next season as embarkation and disembarkation points for voyages to or from sub-Antarctic or Antarctic locations. None of them are expected to record anywhere near the number of transit passengers expected at Ushuaia however. Indications are that Stanley in the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) could see in excess of 2,000 ship-based Antarctic and sub-Antarctic passengers embark or disembark there next season for voyages to and from the Antarctic Peninsula and nearby regions. In addition to that 2,000, it is estimated that at least 45 other Antarctic voyages will pass through Stanley carrying up to 3,000 people on 'day' visits to the port. Buenos Aires, Argentinia, will see approximately 1,300 Antarctic passengers leave or arrive at the port by sea; Lyttleton, New Zealand (around 450, mostly arrivals); Punta Arenas, Chile (up to 350); Hobart, Australia (potentially around 300 if 'Southern Australis' operates); and Bluff, New Zealand (140). Ports with only one or two ship visits and smaller numbers of passengers passing through include Puerto Madryn, Argentina; Dunedin and Wellington, New Zealand; and Reunion Island east of Madagascar. Cape Town, South Africa, and Rio de Janiero, Brazil will have only one visit ex Antarctica each at the very end of the season as ships make their way northwards. No data is yet available on the number of yachts expected to travel to the Antarctic region next season, however the totals travelling in that way will be small in comparison with larger vessels. [ANAN-5/03]
JUSTICE MAHON'S EREBUS REPORT OFFICIALLY RECOGNISED: Almost twenty-years after the event, the New Zealand Government has formally accepted Justice Peter Mahon's 1981 report into the crash of an Air New Zealand DC-10 into Mount Erebus, Victoria Land, which killed all 257 people on board on 28 November 1979. Justice Mahon's 1981 Inquiry into the disaster found that a series of pre-flight errors by the navigation section of Air New Zealand led to the tragedy, which occurred during a tourist overflight. The report's findings were very controversial and Air New Zealand's then management was accused by Justice Mahon of engaging in "a predetermined plan of deception" in the evidence it provided to him. Following the release of Mahon's report in 1981, the NZ Government, which then owned the airline, asked the nation's Office of Air Accident Investigations (OAAI) to carry out its own, separate, evaluation. OAAI subsequently determined that the crash was due primarily to pilot error. OAAI's report was formally accepted by the NZ Government in 1983, however it was not until 25 August this year that Mahon's was tabled in Parliament by NZ Transport Minister, Maurice Williams. Williams said that the report "broke new ground in New Zealand and internationally", and that "The International Civil Aviation Organisation [has cited it] as pioneering [the field] of systematic accident investigation". Williams went on to say the report "..showed that an accident sequence was like someone slipping down a knotted rope....the pilot's decision may be the last knot in the rope, but there are many other events which set up the accident sequence". The Minister said that while significant time has passed since the tragedy, it was critical that the lessons learnt from it not be forgotten. The DC-10 struck Mount Erebus at an altitude around 500 m, some 3,200 m below the summit; the mountain not being visible at the time to the pilot flying the aircraft due to cloud and visibility conditions. As a direct result of that tragedy, today's tourist overflights in the Victoria Land region operated by the Australian company Qantas with Boeing 747-400 aircraft, have a minimum safe altitude (MSA) for each route segment calculated to provide a buffer in excess of 600m above the highest terrain within 160 km of the flight track. Coastal sightseeing segments are flown no lower than 3,300 m above sea level or at the MSA whichever is higher. On top of that further conservatism is built in. For example the highest peak in the Victoria Land region is Mount Minto at 4,165 m (Erebus is 3,795 m), and Qantas' rules for operations require an MSA close to 6,000 m for overflights in that entire region. [ANAN-5/04]
RESEARCH LEADS TO MORE CONSERVATIVE HELICOPTER GUIDELINES: A recent study by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) at Amanda Bay, Princess Elizabeth Land, has shown that emperor penguin chicks are disturbed by helicopter over-flights. The helicopter used in the research was a twin-engine, Sikorsky S-76, operating at 1,000 m above emperor penguin chicks of between five and six months of age. This altitude was the then operational guideline for AAD twin-engined operations. During overflights at that height the chicks displayed alarm behaviours and almost 70% of them either walked or ran in response to the aircraft noise. The chicks tended to 'huddle' rather than scatter, coming to rest soon after the helicopter had passed. The findings represent the first real test of current operational guidelines for helicopters in Antarctica. Although the effects of the over-flights were relatively transitory, the findings have led to the AAD to introduce an even more conservative guideline of 1,500 m as the minimum overflight altitude for twin-engine helicopters over-flying emperor penguin colonies. The work by Drs Melissa Giese and Martin Riddle is titled 'Disturbance of emperor penguins Aptenodytes forsteri chicks by helicopters' and has been accepted for publication by 'Polar Biology' later this year. [ANAN-5/05]
SUPERNOVA CHARTER VESSEL FOR GOVERNMENT PROGRAM SUPPORT: Supernova Expeditions is to charter the 'Kapitan Khlebnikov' (KK) to the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) for three weeks in November for a voyage to Casey station, Wilkes Land, from Hobart, Australia. Serious difficulties with the AAD's chartered vessel 'Aurora Australis' in 1998-99, including two fires and a propeller problem, led to Casey not receiving a full load of fuel to support station operations before the start of the current austral winter. The station, which has been closely monitoring and managing fuel use all year, currently estimates that it has sufficient stocks to enable it to operate until mid-January. Until early January ice conditions north of Casey can sometimes be very difficult and an ice breaker is needed to try and ensure that fuel is delivered before the end of the year. Use of the 'Aurora Australis' alone to undertake the refuelling before then would have significantly compromised total Australian research and support program activities planned for the coming season, hence the decision to seek the charter of an icebreaker for a single voyage. 'KK' is expected to deliver to Casey fifty-four station personnel, 930,000 litres of station fuel, fresh food supplies and limited quantities of industrial gases, kerosene and petrol to the station. The voyage will mark the start of what is planned as a four month summer season at Casey and involves the changeover of the 1999 and 2000 winter personnel groups. While the vessel is expected to carry two helicopters, they will not be under general hire to the AAD and it is not proposed to use them on the voyage except for ice reconnaissance unless circumstances dictate. Original plans for Khlebnikov's 1999-2000 season involved three Ross Sea tourist voyages. The government charter means however that the tourist voyage proposed from Hobart to Lyttleton, New Zealand, via the Ross Sea from 20 November until 15 December, will not now occur. Following the voyage for the Australian government, 'KK' will travel to Lyttleton and is scheduled to depart from there on 15 December on the first of two tourist voyages to the Ross Sea in December and January. She is currently scheduled to finish the season in Hobart on 1 February. [ANAN-5/06]
SHORT NEWS ITEMS:
CORRECTION TO EDITION 4: In the item titled 'Venture proposes sky-diving, hot air ballooning' [ANAN-4/01], the 'Snow Bugs' which the 'Millennium Expedition' proposes to use to transport personnel and equipment between the Patriot Hills and the South Geographic Pole, were referred to several times as 'tracked vehicles'. The bugs in fact ride on six, large, low-pressure balloon tyres with a diameter of 1.35 m and a width of 0.5 m. Tyre pressure is said to be around 0.2 bar. Each wheel has independent suspension and the transmission drives wheels individually via a four-speed manual gear lever. The vehicles are 4.7 m long, 2.85 m wide and 1.95 m high. According to the manufacturer's specifications they are made from aviation-grade aluminium and have a very light footprint. Their dry weight is put at 650 Kg. While it is reported that they have been proven in Arctic conditions the Millennium Expedition will see their first use in Antarctica.
COMING MEETINGS: 25-28 June 2000. IAATO annual meeting. Hobart, Australia. [ANAN-5/08] ##
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