The new search for missing airline MH370 is now expected to commence on Sunday, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said.
The survey vessel GO Phoenix, under contract from the Malaysian Government, was expected to arrive at the redefined search site on Wednesday, however ATSB spokesman Dan O'Malley said the vessel has been delayed in transit to the site.
"The GO Phoenix has left Fremantle Port but it has been delayed in transit by weather conditions, so we are expecting the Phoenix to arrive at the search site on Sunday," he said.
The ocean floor of the new search area has been extensively mapped over the past month by the Fugro Equator, which will return to Fremantle within the next 20 days and be re-tasked to assist the GO Phoenix in the underwater search.
Its sister ship, the Fugro Discovery, has finished being fit out for the underwater search in South Africa and is in transit to Australia.
The Fugro Discovery will use an armour-plated fibre-optic cable up to 10 kilometres long to power a 'towfish' sonar sensor that will float 100 metres from the ocean floor, sending data back to Fugro offices in Perth.
The towfish also has a chemical sensor that can detect jet fuel down to a few parts per billion, and lights and cameras that will take images from within 10 metres if any wreckage is found.
MH370 disappeared with 239 people on board during its March 8 flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, and while the initial search focused on the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea, its attention soon switched focus to the Indian Ocean off Perth.
An extensive search of an area 1500 nautical miles off the coast of Perth in March failed to find any trace of the missing plane.
The search was placed on hiatus until researchers at Curtin University found a low-frequency underwater sound signal that could have resulted from Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 crashing into the Indian Ocean.
Early last month, the Australian government signed a contract worth more than $50 million with Fugro to scour the ocean floor for the wreckage of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
