TT LINE has been trialling slower Bass Strait crossings by Spirit of Tasmania ferries, positioning the experiment as a move to reduce emissions - although Tasmanian Labor claims it’s all about fuel-saving, given the company’s reportedly precarious financial position.
Local media has aired passenger complaints about inadequate notification of the longer sailings, which have been extended from the usual 11 hours 15 minutes to 14 hours. However, TT Line has pointed out the revised voyage time applied only to off-peak Sunday sailings, that the trial began last September, and that customers have “responded positively”.
Labor's shadow infrastructure minister, Anita Dow, said Premier Jeremy Rockliff “owes Tasmanians who use the Spirits an explanation why their travel times have increased by nearly three hours each way while we still wait for the new Spirits to come into service".
“Are these sailings being slowed down so TT-Line can save some money on fuel to pay for Jeremy Rockliff's ferry fiasco?”
Infrastructure Minister Kerry Vincent told ACM after passengers indicated they want to wake up later and depart the vessel later: “These changes, which are limited to off-peak Sunday sailings only, are about continuous service improvement and finding ways to deliver the best possible value and experience to customers for the most cost-effective price, as Tasmanians would expect.”
The government said Labor would have been aware of the slow sailings as TT Line Chris Carbonne revealed details during Parliamentary scrutiny sessions last November, when he said the company wanted to reduce carbon emissions.
“To that end, in recent months we conducted a number of slow sailings on a Sunday. Part of that was to not impact the freight industry, but also to understand if we reduce the speed of the ship how much fuel we would save. We did that on a number of different occasions in recent months.
“We've got no more future trials planned, but it was certainly a good test case in how the speed of the vessel made such a material difference on the fuel burn,” Mr Carbonne said.