Spirit of Tasmania crew hit by severe gastro on voyage from Scotland

In early March, the newly built Spirit of Tasmania V made its way from Scotland on a seven-week voyage to Australia.

It was a positive turning point for Tasmania's much-maligned ferry replacement program, which was millions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.

"The delivery voyage proceeded as normal," said Nathan Niven from the Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers (AIMPE).

"Until they got to South Africa."

That's when things took a turn for the worse.

'Seasick, times 10'

According to a dispute resolution application filed in the Fair Work Commission, fresh food supplies were taken on board when the ship reached Cape Town in early April.

"A severe illness, shigella, spread through the vessel following contaminated food being taken on in South Africa," the AIMPE's application states.

Shigella, also known as bacillary dysentery, is a type of bacterial gastroenteritis.

According to the Australian Centre for Disease Control, it is highly contagious.

Symptoms include diarrhoea, often with blood and mucus, fever, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

It usually lasts between four and seven days, and can cause complications, including dehydration, sepsis, severe inflammation of the colon and reactive arthritis.

"It would be like [being] seasick times 10, which is very unpleasant," said Mr Niven, who was not on the vessel but is representing some of those who were.

Not enough fit crew for 'normal watches'

By the time the ship reached its next destination at Mauritius, "the majority of the crew" had fallen ill, Mr Niven said.

This included one crew member who had to be hospitalised for several days in Mauritius, and another who was treated in hospital in Australia, he said.

With multiple crew members bedridden, including four of the six engineers, the ship was forced to operate with limited staff as it continued on towards Fremantle.

"The effect on the engineers was that only one fit engineer was available to maintain watches at a time instead of two, between 8 April and 17 April," the application states.

Mr Niven said the engineers who worked alone on 12-hour shifts, instead of with a colleague on eight-hour shifts, were entitled to a "shorthanded" allowance for 10 days.

"The vessel proceeded to sea with a [limited] number of fit crew, which meant that there weren't enough available hands to perform the normal watches on the ship,"

he said.

"[This] resulted in people having to do extended hours with [fewer] people on hand than would normally fulfil those watches and [it was a] completely unsatisfactory situation."

But according to the AIMPE's application, the request for a shorthanded allowance was rejected by the engineers' employer, ASP Ships Group.

The AIMPE said ASP Ships Group had denied the claim "on advice from [ship operator] TT-Line", which claimed the ship was classified as an "Unmanned Machinery Space" (UMS) vessel.

UMS vessels have highly automated, remote monitoring systems that do not require crew members to maintain a constant physical watch in the engine room.

But in its application, the AIMPE said the assertion was incorrect.

"So, they should be compensated … for those additional hours and double the work that they had to do," Mr Niven said.

He said the claim for the shorthanded allowance amounted to between $10,000 and $20,000.

Fair Work now involved

In a statement to the ABC, ASP Ships Group confirmed that crew members were ill while the ship was berthed in Mauritius.

"They received appropriate medical care and, having sufficient and appropriate personnel fit for the safe operation of the vessel, the decision was taken to continue the voyage to Australia," it said.

The company said it was unable to comment further because the matter was before the Fair Work Commission.

The ABC approached TT-Line for comment, but did not receive a response.

The matter is listed for a conference hearing in Melbourne on October 23.

TT-Line's two new ferries, Spirit IV and Spirit V, are scheduled to begin transporting passengers and freight across Bass Strait from October 31.