Antarctic-bound ship forgets equipment

A COSTLY blunder has forced Australia's Antarctic flagship MV Aurora Australis to make a special return voyage to Hobart after someone forgot to pack a vital piece of equipment.

A big, long, very large hose used to transport fuel hundreds of metres from ship to shore at Macquarie Island was left behind on the dock in Hobart.

It wasn't until the specialist re-fuelling crew of about half a dozen got settled on this Southern Ocean voyage that they realised it was missing.

The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) blunder has forced it to organise a special additional return voyage to Macquarie Island at a cost sources say will start upwards from $500,000.

An AAD statement sent to AAP on Wednesday said the precise cost had not been determined.

The ship is due at Davis Station to pick up expeditioners this weekend.

It was scheduled to then off-load cargo at Macquarie Island and while that was happening it was supposed to supply fuel to the sub-Antarctic station, home to about 40 expeditioners over summer.

It will now return to Hobart before going to Macquarie Island with the hose.

It will have carried one of the AAD's largest and most complex cargo loads since leaving Hobart on March 8.

The Macquarie Island delivery crew are due back in Hobart on April 16, after picking up the hose and making the special Macquarie Island delivery, 40 days after they first boarded the ship.

Wednesday's AAD statement said it is responsible for the logistical service but "the preparation and loading of cargo for the Aurora Australis is a process jointly managed by AAD, Capital P&O; Logistics and P&O; Polar."

"In the most recent voyage departing for Davis Station and Macquarie Island on 8 March 2010 a refuelling hose was inadvertently left behind.

"At this stage it is unclear how the hose was left on the dock."

However a "full analysis" of the hose fiasco has been promised.