The 'Queen of Melbourne', left to languish for more than 2½ years on Corio Bay, has finally sold to an international buyer. She set sail from Geelong on Jan 5, 2018, bound for the South Pacific. She was to be used as a passenger ferry servicing islands in Fiji and should be there in a few days. The ferry had been idle in Geelong since May 2015, following a string of incidents that began in Europe and stretched through the Middle East and into Australia. The owner Farooq Qamar bought the vessel in Norway for $300,000 and planned to operate it as a party boat in Melbourne. He hired a crew to sail it to Melbourne in September 2014, but an on-board mutiny that threatened to turn violent forced Spanish authorities to intervene. Qamar hired a new crew in Morocco but the ferry was damaged in heavy weather in the Red Sea off Egypt. After battling a cyclone off West Australia’s coast — and seeing eight crew members detained and then deported — another crew was engaged for the vessel’s final voyage from Fremantle to Melbourne. However, another on-board standoff, and the failure to secure sites at Docklands and Williamstown, left the ferry stranded in Corio Bay. For the past 18 months authorities had been charging $200 per day for the ferry to berth at Corio Wharf. It had earlier been left about 200 metres offshore, but was moved due to fears it could break loose and cause damage.
WORLD SHIPPING
08 January 2018 - 21:07
Update: 08 January 2018 - 23:49
Ferry set sail to Fiji after languishing for more than 2½ years
The 'Queen of Melbourne', left to languish for more than 2½ years on Corio Bay, has finally sold to an international buyer
WORLD SHIPPING
08 January 2018 - 21:07
Update: 08 January 2018 - 23:49
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