INVESTIGATIVE work by the ABC in Tasmania has uncovered the machinations behind efforts to find interim employment for the first of TT Line’s new Bass Strait ro-paxes, Spirit of Tasmania IV.
Spirit IV and sister Spirit V have both been delivered by Finnish builder RMC but cannot enter service between Geelong and Devonport until TT Line’s much-delayed new terminal is completed in October next year.
In December last year Spirit IV was transferred to lay-up in Lieth, Scotland, while the Tasmanian Government and TT Line sought offers for short-term use as a means of defraying costs while earning revenue. The charter attempts were very unpopular with Tasmanians and eventually abandoned, with the vessel finally arriving in Hobart on 23 August.
The ABC has obtained documents under Right to Information laws that show TT Line, through brokers, fielded inquiries for a number of possible deployments, including as a summer charter ferry in Germany, and between France and Algeria, and Greece and Italy.
There was also a proposal to utilise Spirit IV as a floating accommodation facility in California to house displaced residents, with the interested party prepared to commence an immediate charter (contingent on a favourable price) and cover all relocation costs.
However, far more contentious was a plan by the Scottish Government to use Spirit IV to house Ukrainian refugees, as had already occurred with other ferries and cruise ships in the UK and Europe. The plan was characterised as highly confidential and sensitive and, when leaked to media on 27 February this year, denied outright by the Scottish Government.
The ABC’s exposure of internal correspondence at TT Line and between its board and executive and the Tasmanian Government reveals cost estimates and comparisons for various options, and that brokers had received inquiries from 14 potential users, including two for accommodation purposes.
In the end on 2 March the government directed TT Line to cease negotiations and bring Spirit IV home.
The full ABC story can be found here.