Sitting pretty in Newcastle Port, Sydney’s brand new ferries harbour a dangerous underbelly.
9News revealed tonight that solid asbestos had been uncovered last week in gaskets on three of the four vessels as they were given a final fit-out following delivery from Indonesia.
Paul Garrett from the Maritime Union said “we were warned” about having the boats built overseas.
“At the end of the day, there’s no safe asbestos – someone should be sacked,” he said.
Sydney ferry operator Transdev ordered the new fleet of 10 river class ferries and three emerald class ferries from Australian ship-builder Birdon.
Birdon outsourced the work to Singapore, Indonesia and China.
All three countries have been flagged by the Australian Border Force on a warning list of nations whose imports have had traces of asbestos fibres.