2023 - Happy New SHIPPING Year! What’s Happening?

Happy New Year, Shipees!

As you sail into 2023, do so boldly and with enthusiasm – your life is your ship and you are the captain!

As I wrote this report, storm clouds were gathering and white caps building on the ocean – and a steady trail of recreational vessels was returning from Rottnest before the storm hit.

Fire at Rotto

Rottnest has been packed with boats over the holiday season. Sadly, on 28 December, a 40ft former cray boat caught fire at the north-eastern end of Marjorie Bay. The boat burned down to the waterline and drifted onto a reef. Two people on board had to jump to safety.

Mark Zuvela, a volunteer with Fremantle Sea Rescue, was on his boat nearby and captured all the unwanted action, and kindly shared his pics with us. Thanks, Mark.

While many of our readers had time off over the Festive Season and New Year, the port of Fremantle was as busy as ever with container ships coming and going, and extra ferries travelling back and forth to Rottnest.

Cruise News

The cruise ship Regatta visited Fremantle again for one day on 1 January. She was last in port on 1 December 2022, when we snapped this pic of her.

The 14-deck Viking Orion was stranded 16 nautical miles for seven days off the coast of Adelaide, over the holidays, due to the presence of a mysterious sea snail on her hull. The cruise from Auckland to Sydney was unable to make four of the eight scheduled port visits. 800 passengers were given lobster dinners, glasses of sparkling wine and additional entertainment to keep them happy.

Viking Orion

On 9 January, AIDAmar will visit Fremantle. Her last port of call was Adelaide. She has 1,575 passengers and 610, crew on board. This is a transit visit, meaning that all the passengers will be travelling on to the next port, Geraldton.

We are advised that 700 passengers are on pre-booked tours, meaning the remaining passengers and crew will be in Fremantle on the day.

The City of Fremantle will run a shuttle service from the Fremantle Passenger Terminal to Walyalup Koort from 7.30am to 3.30pm.

So head on down to the port or the moles to catch this colourful cruise ship with its giant lips and smiling eyes. She is due to arrive at 6.30am on Monday 9 January and depart at 5pm on the same day.

Fremantle Shipping News will be there to capture her arrival. Keep an eye out for our pics!

* STORY by our Shipping Correspondent, Jean Hudson @jeansodyssey. Jean is also a regular feature writer and photographer here on the Shipping News. You may like to follow up her informative Places I Love stories, as well as other feature stories and Freo Today photographs, right here.

WHILE YOU’RE HERE –