A DEAL to charter Spirit of Tasmania IV to unnamed parties could be reached by the end of February, with TT Line advising the Tasmanian Government “live” commercial negotiations are now underway.
The new Bass Strait ro-pax remains laid up in Leith, Scotland, with little hope of entering service between Melbourne and Devonport until the latter’s much-delayed new terminal is completed in early 2027.
The Infrastructure Tasmania division of the state’s Department of State Growth, in a bulletin issued on Friday [31 January] confirmed TT-Line had received an offer from a party and is considering a number of other proposals from interested parties.
“TT-Line has now entered live commercial negotiations and will move to finalise terms and conditions prior to a decision being made,” the bulletin said.
“TT-Line therefore requires further time to complete these negotiations by the end of February. The Government will then inform Tasmanians of the result.
“The ship will remain in Leith while these negotiations are underway.
“There are no changes to berthing or crewing costs. Crewing costs in Tasmania would be significantly higher due to differing domestic requirements, resulting in increased onboard crew numbers,” the department said.
Ancillary services are accrued on a ‘do and charge’ basis and would be charged regardless of the location of the vessel. To date, total ancillary costs for December are approximately $250,106 and include one-off costs for entry of Spirit IV into Leith such as pilotage.
Estimated monthly spend for ancillary costs subsequent to this is approximately $30,000.
While there have been no official indications as to the identity of the interested parties, social media reports in Europe suggest the ferry may be destined for a charter – presumably to a government or NGO – to house Ukrainian refugees. Other European ferries have been similarly deployed, in the UK and The Netherlands amongst others.
Such a use would surely be politically unpopular if not unacceptable to Tasmanians, who continue to agitate for the vessel and still-to-be-completed sister Spirit of Tasmania V to be brought to Tasmania to await entry into service.
“No offence to Ukrainians but we have at least 3000 homeless people in this state who would be more deserving,” one local social media poster commented.
