The Dunedin-built TSS Earnslaw is undergoing an in-water survey, budgeted at about $450,000, by Real Journeys beside Steamer Wharf , after another busy season carrying thousands of tourists to Walter Peak and back.
Real Journeys chief executive Richard Lauder said yesterday the survey was going fairly routinely, but some odd things were found every year as the ship was inspected and the survey adapted to accommodate.
''We have had a focus on improving the smoke emissions as part of this survey, so hopefully there will be a little bit of an improvement in terms of the visual impact of the Earnslaw, but otherwise, it's simply our annual work to put her back in service for the 3500 hours that she has to run in the next 11 months, which is a lot of service for a 101-year-old girl.''
Mr Lauder said Real Journeys tried to make the Earnslaw as environmentally-friendly as possible within the heritage context of running a steamship.
''There is absolutely no way that we will be changing the Earnslaw to an alternative-powered vessel, so we have to operate with coal and boilers and a smokestack,'' he said.
''We use whatever current thinking and technology we have available to us to minimise that impact, but the reality is, she is a steamship.''
The TSS Earnslaw is tentatively scheduled to re-enter service in early July.
