barred from travelling under the Tasman Bridge<\/a> due to safety concerns.<\/p>\nInstead, since 2023, the ship has had to travel 674 kilometres to refuel at Burnie in the state’s north-west, adding about $875,000 to its annual fuel bill in previous years.<\/p>\n
In 2024, the Tasmanian government promised to find a refuelling solution, such as a fuel barge or pipeline, as part of a $188 million deal with the Commonwealth to upgrade Macquarie Wharf.<\/p>\n
Under the deal, the state government will get a “milestone” payment of $2 million if the Commonwealth accepts its proposed solution by July 31 this year.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, the ABC revealed the majority of options that have been assessed so far involve permanent infrastructure that could take up to three years to develop.<\/p>\n
At the time, the Department of State Growth told the ABC it was continuing to work with the Australian government to find a mutually agreeable solution.<\/p>\n
But at a Senate estimates hearing last night, the federal environment department’s deputy secretary, Sean Sullivan, said no agreement had been reached.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/d8200aba5691f5858657f4642b2aa89f.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Sean Sullivan says a longer-term solution is still being pursued. (Supplied: Australian Senate)<\/p>\n
“I’m not sure about how long it’s going to take to resolve the issue,” Mr Sullivan said.<\/p>\n
“Tasmania gave us an interim solution and we are still pursuing a longer term solution that will allow us to refuel the Nuyina in Hobart.”<\/p>\n
Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson asked him to clarify what Tasmania’s proposed interim solution was.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think it’s a secret,” Mr Sullivan said.<\/p>\n
“They just wanted to roll trucks in.”![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/bcac222d797beeb11d27fea481bdd502.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
The RSV Nuyina is unable to travel under the Tasman Bridge in Hobart due to safety concerns stemming from the vessel’s size. (ABC News)<\/p>\n
A 2023 report commissioned by the state government noted that 64 road tankers would be needed to fully refuel the Nuyina, with the process taking more than five days to complete.<\/p>\n
Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) head Emma Campbell acknowledged the Nuyina has previously used road tankers for “top-ups” prior to shorter voyages.<\/p>\n
But for a “major refuel”, Ms Campbell told the hearing: “It would be quicker to go to Burnie.”<\/p>\n
Asked by Senator Whish-Wilson whether the road tanker proposal was acceptable, Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt said it was not.<\/p>\n
“Far from it,” Mr Watt said.<\/p>\n
“And at every possible level, we have made the point to the Tasmanian government that they made a commitment to find a workable solution as a condition of receiving a large amount of money from the Australian government, and they have not yet delivered.”<\/p>\n
Ship to continue refuelling in Burnie![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/6517df04a0c3e1d3454dbacc5d5db61a.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Emma Campbell fronted the Senate hearing on Monday night.<\/p>\n
Ms Campbell told the hearing the Tasmanian government had confirmed it would not meet the impending deadline for the “milestone” payment.<\/p>\n
“Tasmania has written to us saying that they won’t meet the July time frame for the refuelling, and it has to push that back,” she said.<\/p>\n
Icebreaker’s costly refuelling detour could take years to fix<\/a><\/p>\nA costly refuelling saga affecting Australia’s Antarctic icebreaker might not be resolved for another three years under most options, internal government documents reveal.<\/p>\n
“The [federal] minister’s written in principle, saying \u2026 we understand that’s the case.<\/p>\n
“We encourage Tasmania to focus on a long-term solution and note that effectively the funding deal, including the final payments, are reliant on that fuelling infrastructure.”<\/p>\n
Mr Sullivan told the hearing the Tasmanian government had received some “unsolicited offers” for longer-term solutions to the issue.<\/p>\n
“I think Tasmania just hasn’t delivered something that’s sensible or usable for us,” he said.<\/p>\n
Ms Campbell said the AAD was planning to continue refuelling the ship in Burnie next year.<\/p>\n
She said this year’s cost of refuelling in Burnie was lower than previous years, at $600,000, because the ship had only gone there three times, instead of four.<\/p>\n
The ABC has contacted the Tasmanian government for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tasmanian government wants to use road tankers to temporarily resolve a costly refuelling saga affecting Australia’s Antarctic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[338771,64,63,91755,69,338773,44,338772,338770,125280,2801],"class_list":["post-694648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-antarctic-icebreaker","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-burnie","tag-federal-government","tag-macquarie-wharf","tag-news","tag-refuel","tag-rsv-nuyina","tag-state-growth","tag-tasmania"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}