Number five is alive: Newest Spirit arrives in Melbourne

HAVING reached Geelong on Saturday and undertaken berthing trials at the TT Line terminal yesterday, the second of the new Bass Strait ro-paxes is now safely alongside Station Pier in Melbourne.

Spirit of Tasmania V also discharged fuel pods used during the long journey from Leith, Scotland, through the English Channel, to Gibraltar and the Canary Islands, down the West Coast of Africa, around to Cape Town and across the Indian Ocean, via Mauritius, to Fremantle where regulatory clearances were completed last week.

While sailing from Geelong to Melbourne this morning the ship passed sister Spirit of Tasmania IV, laid up at Nelson Pier, Williamstown before berthing at Outer East Station Pier, adjacent to the old TT Line terminal, of which no sign remains other than the original building.

Spirit V will stay in Melbourne – at the berth available following the end of the cruise season – before moving to Hobart for final fit-out work and a role in the city’s MONA Dark Fomo festival.

Both ships are due enter service at the end of October, with TasPorts, contractors and the Tasmanian Government confident the controversial East Devonport terminal will be ready by then.