It may be a while yet before they are helping ease the booking backlog currently making a trip across the Bass Strait a planning nightmare … but the first of the two new Spirit of Tasmania vessels is well and truly in the water.
The completed Spirit of Tasmania IV has been undergoing sea trials on a voyage from Finland to Scotland, where it is set to berth amid ongoing delays to necessary port infrastructure upgrades in Tasmania.
The Mercury newspaper reports that the three-and-a-half day voyage was designed to test the vessel’s systems, performance and capabilities under real-world conditions.
The new TT-Line boat Spirit of Tasmania IV. PIC: Rauma Marine Constructions
TT-Line acting CEO Kym Sayers told the Mercury a berth had been secured for Spirit IV at Leith in Scotland for a minimum of 30 days and a formal agreement would be signed ‘once ancillary services for the vessel’s time [there] have been negotiated and agreed to’.
Meanwhile, the newspaper says the Spirit of Tasmania V, is expected to be completed in early-to-mid 2025 but it has not yet been determined where the vessel will be berthed while work continues on upgrading Berth 3 in Devonport.
The new ships, which are being built by Finnish shipbuilder Rauma Marine Constructions, were originally set to be completed and brought to the state by 2021.
However, the project has been beset by delays and cost blowouts, and the vessels will now not be in service until 2027 after it was revealed that the upgrades to Berth 3 would not be ready until February of that year.
The Mercury reports that the state government plans to lease them out in the interim but an arrangement is yet to be finalised by TT-Line.
The new Spirit of Tasmania ships are longer, wider and taller than their predecessors. The new ships will increase the annual passenger capacity on the Bass Strait route by almost 30%, the lane metres for passenger cars and freight by 60%, and the cabin capacity by approximately 35%, while the environmental impact of shipping will be significantly reduced.
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