00:02It's been less than a week since the two new Spirit Ferries embarked on their first
00:06passenger voyages.
00:08And there will be a new error on Bass Strait travel for Tassie for the next four decades.
00:13But as Spirit 4 sailed towards Victoria this morning, passengers received the first clue
00:19that something was wrong.
00:20We got a call from the captain, came over the PA and announced that the arrival would
00:25be delayed.
00:26A track map shows the vessel made several unusual turns before it eventually docked
00:32in Geelong four hours behind schedule.
00:35It was actually good to enjoy the ship a bit more and had a bit more of a sleep in.
00:39The ABC understands the ship experienced a steering issue involving its autopilot.
00:45A tugboat escorted the vessel to Geelong as a precaution.
00:49State owned ferry operator TT Line says an investigation has been launched and technicians have been
00:55engaged to diagnose the issue.
00:57I understand there's been no impact to passenger safety and obviously safety is our number
01:02one focus.
01:03It comes as the Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigates a similar steering issue
01:08on TT Line's other new ship Spirit 5 during a trial voyage late last month.
01:15During that incident an issue with the autopilot caused the ship to briefly travel outside the
01:21chartered shipping channels southern and northern limits.
01:24There's a hugely complex bespoke builds and you know just like any other major manufacturing
01:30project we're working through the little teething issues that happen when crews are first getting
01:36used to the new vessels.
01:38Another chapter in TT Line's long delayed and over budget ferry replacement program.
