From frustration to celebration: New Spirit ferry arrives in home port

Spirit IV arrives in Devonport for two days of testing ahead of October sailings In short: Spirit of Tasmania IV has arrived in its home port of Devonport for two days of testing. It was a cause for celebration, following years of delays and cost overruns associated with the ferry replacement program. What's next? The ship will leave Devonport tomorrow and is due to start ferrying passengers across Bass Strait in October. After years of delays and cost overruns, there was cause for celebration in Devonport today as one of the two new Bass Strait ferries arrived at its home port for the first time. Premier Jeremy Rockliff was among the crowd welcoming Spirit of Tasmania IV to the north-west coast. "I was here around 7am and I was with thousands of other Tasmanians … people of all ages," Mr Rockliff told reporters. "I got the real sense there that this was a dawn of a new era for tourism, for freight, for Tasmania. "And the sense of occasion was most certainly there. "People were excited and people were very proud as they could see their ship, Spirit IV, sail up the river, turn on a dime and back in perfectly to the gantry." But it has not been all smooth sailing to get to this point. Spirit IV, and its sister ship Spirit V, were initially planned to be ready for service in 2021. But the ferry replacement program has been beset by delays and cost blowouts relating to both the ships themselves and the wharf infrastructure needed to accommodate them. In May, state parliament's Public Accounts Committee heard the program, which started in 2018, had cost $717 million more than was forecast in the original business case. Most of the cost overrun related to the new berth at Devonport. "You can always look back," Mr Rockliff said today. "But this is about looking forward … and big projects like this have their challenges, there's no doubt about that. "But big projects are here for the next generation, the next three decades or more. "They are the projects that are worth the investment, they're worth the blood, sweat and tears because they always deliver." Loading...Two days of testing Ferry operator TT-Line's chair, Ken Kanofski, said Spirit IV would be in Devonport until tomorrow afternoon, with its hydraulics, loading systems and the management systems set to be tested. "The purpose is really to test the gantry and the ship together in a live environment," Mr Kanofski said. "We've been doing it in Geelong with both ships for a number of times now. "The gantries are built to designs, clearly, but you want to fine tune the systems, bring the two together for the first time," he said. "We'll also bring Spirit V here in September in order to undertake testing of Spirit V with the gantry as well. Mr Kanofski said the new ships were still on track to start ferrying passengers in October. Emotion and nostalgia on banks of Mersey Tasmania's Infrastructure Minister Kerry Vincent said there was celebration and nostalgia among the crowd gathered on the banks of Devonport's Mersey River to see the new ship arrive. "A lot of emotion. There's a lot of old people here that … could remember the Princess and the Empress all talking about the changes and how important these new ships would be for Tasmania,"he said. The Princess of Tasmania and later the Empress of Australia connected Tasmania with Victoria from 1959 until TT-Line's Abel Tasman took over the route in 1985. Mr Rockliff said during his first year in politics, he saw Spirits I and II arrive in Tasmania. "That was also controversial at the time, and I think I might have even broken away from my team at the time as a candidate and supported the two new ferries when our side of politics didn't," he said. "[To] 24 years later to see brand new ships … and these are purpose-built, brand new for Tasmania and Tasmanians, it's a very proud [moment]. Devonport Mayor Alison Jarman said the new ship would be the city's "shining light". She said there was a sense of celebration around town. "We're getting hugs, we're getting high fives, we're getting people shaking our hands and congratulating us. And we're just saying to them, 'now, just tell everybody we're ready to go'," Councillor Jarman said. [Image text:] SPIRITOITASMANIA