One of the world’s biggest car carriers slowly made its way into Port Kembla on Thursday morning.
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The Salome arrived off the coast of Wollongong at 9am and entered the port at around 9.30am with the help of two tugs.
Classed as a RoRo (for Roll on Roll off), it’s a monthly visitor to the port, and is one of a fleet of four which are the biggest ships in their category in the world.
It’s part of the Wallenuis Line, from Sweden, and all of the ships in that line have been named after operas.
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It’s a tradition that started in 1941, when founder and opera buff Olof Wallenius bought a vessel and renamed it MS Rigaletto.
The Salome is 265 metres long and 30 metres high – which is roughly the height of a 10-storey building.
Nestled inside the ship on its nine decks were cars and trucks as well as agricultural and mining machinery which - as the RoRo name suggests - will be rolled off the ship.
Port Kembla Harbour Master Kell Dillon said unloading the Salome was expected to take some time.
“Normally car carriers will take between eight to 12 hours, this one will take 24 hours,” Mr Dillon said
The ship will remain in port until its scheduled departure time of 8am Friday.