Deck crowded for naming ceremony of Toll Group’s Tasmanian Achiever II freight vessel
- Lachlan Bennett,Article and photos from Advocate Newspaper
A new era of Tasmanian shipping was ushered in on Sunday 17/2/19 with the official naming of Toll Group’s new freighter, the Tasmanian Achiever II.
Around
a thousand people packed the decks of the 210-metre-long vessel to
witness the champagne smashing ceremony, tour the quarters and try a
shipping simulator.
Toll spent $311 million on the Tasmanian Achiever II, its sister ship the Victorian Reliance II and port upgrades in what has been dubbed the largest private investment in Australian coastal trading in 25 years.R
Chairman John Mullens said it was “a pretty special day” for the Burnie community, Tasmania, the Australian shipping industry and shareholder Japan Post.
“In life
today we hear so much about cutbacks and downsizing and economising
that it’s great when an opportunity comes along to do the opposite,” he
said.
“An
opportunity to expand the business undertaking to build new assets, to
create new employment and to invest in the future and that is what Toll
is doing here today.”
The two new ships will boost Toll’s Bass Strait cargo capacity by 40 per cent and quicken the crossing by two hours.
Mr
Mullens said the ships provided a “glimpse into the future” as they
were greener, safer, more efficient and fitted with the latest maritime
technology.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison attended the naming ceremony and said Toll’s investment in the ships reflected their confidence in Tasmania, “the turnaround state”.
“They believe in what’s happening here in the Tasmanian economy and they’re investing back in that success…” he said.
Premier Will Hodgman said Toll’s investment was “a truly stunning symbol of Tasmania steaming ahead”.
“It’s
a powerful show of confidence in Tasmania’s strong economy and our
prospects by one of the world’s great companies,” he said.
Japan Post bought Toll in 2015 and first executive officer Taneki Ono hoped the naming ceremony would ignite a strong bond between the two companies and the Burnie community.
“Our confidence in the Australian market and your future is very strong, having invested more than $600 million into capital expenditure projects across the fleet, vessels infrastructure and technology,” he said.
