TT-Line Company Pty Ltd, trading as Spirit of Tasmania, is a Tasmanian Government-owned business that has been offering

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

services between

mainland Australia Mainland Australia is the main landmass of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, excluding the Aru Islands Regency, Aru Islands, New Guinea, Tasmania, and other list of islands of Australia, Australian offshore islands. The landmass ...

and

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

since July 1993. Navigating the Bass Strait, Spirit of Tasmania ferry services cover a distance of between Geelong, Victoria and

Devonport, Tasmania Devonport ( ; Aboriginal Tasmanians#North, pirinilaplu/palawa kani: ''Limilinaturi'') is a port city situated at the mouth of the Mersey River (Australia), Mersey River on the North West Tasmania, north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. Positi ...

. Each journey across the "

Sea Highway The Sea Highway is an Australian English, Australian colloquialism and Figurative analogy, figurative shipping route used to describe the sea lines of communication between the state of Victoria, Australia, Victoria on the Australian mainland ...

" takes approximately 9–11 hours in each direction. Currently, the TT-Line Company's fleet includes two Finnish-built vessels: MS ''Spirit of Tasmania I'' and MS ''Spirit of Tasmania II''. These ships are expected to be replaced by MS ''Spirit of Tasmania IV'' and MS ''Spirit of Tasmania V'' in 2024 and 2025 respectively. Between 2003 and 2006, Spirit of Tasmania operated a service between Sydney and Devonport using the former MS ''Spirit of Tasmania III''. In addition to passenger services, Spirit of Tasmania provides sea freight and roll on/roll off (RORO) transport for vehicles, making it a crucial link between Tasmania and the mainland. Since 1996, fares have been subsidised through the Bass Strait Passenger Vehicle Equalisation Scheme, which aims to make ferry travel more affordable for passengers and promote economic activity between the regions. The company, wholly owned by the

Government of Tasmania The Tasmanian Government is the executive branch of the Australian state of Tasmania. The leader of the party or coalition with the Confidence and supply, confidence of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, House of Assembly, the lower house of the ...

, was initially a part of the Tasmanian Government's Department of Transport. It became a government business enterprise in 1993, adopting the name ''Spirit of Tasmania'' in August of that year. Since then, Spirit of Tasmania has become an iconic service, known for its reliability and vital role in connecting Tasmania with the rest of Australia.

History

1985–1992

TT-Line (Tasmania) was formed in 1985 following the announcement that the Australian National Line (ANL) would no longer operate a service across Bass Strait with '' Empress of Australia''. After the cessation of ANL operations to Tasmania, the Tasmanian Government's Department of Transport began a replacement ferry service, purchasing the West German ferry '' Nils Holgersson (3)'' for $26 million. That amount was offset by a payment from the Australian federal government in compensation for placing the environmentally-sensitive Gordon River off-limits to Hydro Tasmania power generation schemes. The ''Nils Holgersson (3)'' was renamed ''

Abel Tasman Abel Janszoon Tasman (; 160310 October 1659) was a Dutch sea explorer, seafarer and exploration, explorer, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first European to reach New ...

'' on 21 April 1985, and set sail for Australia, she arrived in Devonport on 20 June and began operating on 1 July 1985 from

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

's Station Pier.

1993–2001

In 1993, TT-Line Tasmania replaced the ageing ''Abel Tasman'' with another ex TT-Line ferry. The new ship, '' Peter Pan (3)'', had replaced the former ''Nils Holgersson (3)'' (now ''Abel Tasman'') on the Travemünde to

Trelleborg Trelleborg () is a town in Skåne County, Sweden, with 43,359 inhabitants as of 31 December 2015. It is the southernmost town in Sweden located some west from the Smygehuk, southernmost point of Sweden and the Scandinavian Peninsula. It is one ...

route in Germany in 1986. The ship, which was delivered to Lloyd Werft shipyard in September 1993 and was renamed ''

Spirit of Tasmania TT-Line Company Pty Ltd, trading as Spirit of Tasmania, is a Tasmanian Government-owned business that has been offering ferry services between mainland Australia and Tasmania since July 1993. Navigating the Bass Strait, Spirit of Tasmania f ...

'', cost the Government $150 million. The ferry left Germany on 5 October and arrived in Devonport 12 November. On 1 November 1993, operation of the service was transferred from the Tasmanian Department of Transport to TT-Line Pty Ltd, a government business enterprise wholly owned by the Tasmanian Government. ''Spirit of Tasmania'' made her first commercial crossing of Bass Strait on the night of 29 November 1993 and on that morning ''Abel Tasman'' was laid-up and offered for sale, which was completed in April 1994, to Ventouris Ferries as ''Pollux''. While ''Spirit of Tasmania'' was dry-docked in 1997, the TT-Line chartered a large multi-hull ferry, ''Incat 045'' (now '' Condor Rapide''), from Incat, dubbing her ''Tascat''. She was used for two weeks as an experiment. In the peak season of 1997/98. TT-Line chartered ''Incat 046'' to operate as ''Devil Cat'' from the old SeaCat Tasmania terminal in George Town to Station Pier. TT-Line repeated this over the 1998/99 peak season with the new ''Incat 050 Devil Cat'' (also marketed under the name ''Devil Cat''). In September 1999, ''Spirit of Tasmania'' was forced out of action for two weeks due to fuel contamination, and TT-Line chartered the Incat 030 '' HSC Condor 10'' which at the time was laid up in New Zealand as ''Lynx''. Once TT-Line arranged for the charter she immediately departed New Zealand and arrived in Tasmania two days later, and entered service to cover for ''Spirit of Tasmania''. Over the 1999/00 summer season, TT-Line again charted a fast craft while the former ''Devil Cat'' Incat 046 was used on the Georgetown-Melbourne route during this peak period for three successive years.

2002–2006

In 2002, the Tasmanian Government and TT-Line announced that they would be replacing ''Devil Cat'' and ''

'' with two Finnish built monohull ferries ''Superfast III'' and ''Superfast IV'' later that year from Superfast Ferries. Both were handed over at the Neorion shipyard on the island of

Syros Syros ( ), also known as Siros or Syra, is a Greece, Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is south-east of Athens. The area of the island is and at the 2021 census it had 21,124 inhabitants. The largest towns are Ermoupoli, Ano S ...

where they had been refitted. ''Superfast III'' was renamed '' Spirit of Tasmania II'' and departed on 6 July and ''Superfast IV'' renamed ''

Spirit of Tasmania I MS ''Spirit of Tasmania I'' is a roll-on/roll-off ferry operated by Spirit of Tasmania between Port of Geelong, Geelong and Devonport, Tasmania, Devonport in Australia. Built in 1998 by STX Finland, Kvaerner Masa-Yards at Perno shipyard, Turku ...

'' and departed 7 July. They set off for Australia both arriving in

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

29 July where the final touches were put into place. After public inspections at Hobart, Melbourne and Devonport, the two new ships set sail on 1 September ''Spirit of Tasmania I'' from Devonport and ''Spirit of Tasmania II'' from Melbourne. Earlier that day ''Spirit of Tasmania'' arrived in Melbourne for the last time, having crossed Bass Strait 2,849 times and carried a total of 2.3 million passengers, 807,000 cars and 185,000 containers. ''Spirit of Tasmania'' departed Melbourne just before midnight on 5 September headed for

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

where she arrived on 7 September. In late December it was announced that the ship had been sold to Fjord Line. In March 2003, it was announced that TT-Line would begin operating a third ship, '' Spirit of Tasmania III'', from Devonport to

in early 2004. The last service from Sydney to Tasmania operated by ''Australian Trader'' had ceased in 1976. The new ship was also ex Superfast Ferries having been built as ''Superfast II'' in 1995. ''Superfast II'' was handed over to TT-Line 30 September and went to the Nerion yard for refitting after the works and renaming to ''Spirit of Tasmania III'', she set off on the evening of 10 October. She arrived in Hobart on 30 October berthing No. 6 Macquarie wharf for more fitting-out to be done. ''Spirit of Tasmania III'' set out for a voyage from Hobart to Devonport with 500 people aboard. She stayed in Devonport for a day and then moved on to Melbourne then to Sydney. ''Spirit of Tasmania III'' debuted on the Sydney to Devonport run on 13 January 2004. On 5 June 2006, the Tasmanian government announced that the Sydney to Devonport service would cease on 28 August and the ship sold. It was announced 11 July 2006 that ''Spirit of Tasmania III'' had been sold to Corsica Ferries; she has now been renamed ''Mega Express Four''.

2017–present

In December 2017, TT-Line announced it planned to replace its' two existing ferries with new builds. The new vessels were to have a passenger capacity increase of 43% and freight capacity increase of 39% over the existing ferries. In January 2018, it was announced that the German Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) would build the two new vessels, with the first expected to enter service in 2021. In February 2020, it was announced that the contract with FSG had been mutually cancelled. A new contract for construction of the new ships was signed with Rauma Marine Constructions of Finland. In July 2020, it was announced that the proposed contract with Rauma Marine Constructions would not proceed, due to uncertainty arising from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In 2021, the Tasmanian government announced negotiations had resumed with Rauma Marine, with the contract being signed in April 2021. It was expected in late 2022 that the new vessels, and wouild arrive in Australia in late 2024 and early 2025 respectively. On 23 October 2022, TT-Line moved its Victorian terminal from Station Pier to a new facility at Spirit of Tasmania Quay,

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

. In June 2024 ''Spirit IV'' commenced sea trials. In September 2024, it was handed over by Rauma to TT-Line. On 14 August 2024 company chairman Michael Grainger resigned under pressure from the government over delays and cost blow-outs in the new ferries berths. In October 2024 it was reported that because of delays in the construction of an upgraded wharf at Devonport, the ''Spirit IV'' was then scheduled to enter service in July 2026. The wharfs' construction cost was 90 million, but by 2024 had been revised up to $495 million. In November 2024, due to Finland's cold winters and pack ice, ''Spirit IV'' was moved to the Port of Leith,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland for storage while attempts were made to lease it to another operator in the interim.Spirit of Tasmania operator lists challenges in leasing out new vessel as it explores European markets
''ABC News'' 5 December 2024 Berthing costs in Leith were reported to be about 47,000 per week. On 26 May 2025 ''Spirit IV'' was due to leave for Tasmania, but on 28 May 2025 the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported the both new vessels had problems with their

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

systems, and the vessel could not leave until the issue was rectified.