TT-Line Company Pty Ltd, better known by its trading name Spirit of Tasmania is a company which has been operating ferries from mainland Australia to

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

since July 1985. The company was separated from the Tasmanian Government's Department of Transport in 1993, becoming a

government business enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...

wholly owned by the

Government of Tasmania The Tasmanian Government is the democratic administrative authority of the state of Tasmania, Australia. The leader of the party or coalition with the confidence of the House of Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Tasmania, is invit ...

where it was then named Spirit of Tasmania in August 1993.

History

1985-1992

TT-Line (Tasmania) was formed in 1985 following the announcement that the

Australian National Line Australian National Line (ANL) was a coastal shipping line established in by the Government of Australia in 1956. It was sold in 1998 by the Howard government to CMA CGM. History Australian National Line was formed on 1 October 1956 as the ...

(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 The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

in compensation for placing the environmentally-sensitive

Gordon River The Gordon River is a major perennial river located in the central highlands, south-west, and western regions of Tasmania, Australia. Course and features The Gordon River rises below Mount Hobhouse in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers Nationa ...

off-limits to

Hydro Tasmania Hydro Tasmania, known for most of its history as the Hydro-Electric Commission (HEC) or The Hydro, is the trading name of the Hydro-Electric Corporation, a Tasmanian Government business enterprise which is the predominant electricity generator i ...

power generation schemes. The ''Nils Holgersson (3)'' was renamed ''

Abel Tasman Abel Janszoon Tasman (; 160310 October 1659) was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first known European explorer 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/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

's Station Pier.

1993–2001

In 1993, TT-Line Tasmania replaced the aging ''Abel Tasman'' with another ex

TT-Line TT-Line GmbH is a shipping company based in Lübeck, Germany, which has been providing ferry service between Travemünde in Schleswig-Holstein and Trelleborg in southern Sweden since 1962. Since 1992, it has also operated a service from Rostock ...

ferry. The new ship, '' Peter Pan (3)'', had replaced the former ''Nils Holgersson (3)'' (now ''Abel Tasman'') on the

Travemünde Travemünde () is a borough of Lübeck, Germany, located at the mouth of the river Trave in Lübeck Bay. It began life as a fortress built by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, in the 12th century to guard the mouth of the Trave, and the Danes ...

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

route in Germany in 1986. The ship, which was delivered to

Lloyd Werft Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven GmbH is a dockyard in Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms a semi-enclave in ...

shipyard in September 1993 and was renamed '' Spirit of Tasmania'', 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

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 Incat Tasmania is an Australian manufacturer of high-speed craft (HSC) catamaran ferries. Its greatest success has been with large, sea going passenger and vehicle ferries, but it has also built military transports and since 2015 it has built s ...

, 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 '' Spirit of Tasmania'' with two Finnish built monohull ferries ''Superfast III'' and ''Superfast IV'' later that year from

Superfast Ferries Superfast Ferries is a Greece-based ferry company founded in 1993 by Pericles Panagopulos and Alexander Panagopulos. Superfast Ferries is a member of Attica Group and operates 3 car-passenger ferries, offering daily connections between Anc ...

. Both were handed over at the

Neorion Neorion is one of the oldest Greek heavy industries, located in Ermoupolis, on the Greek island of Syros. Today, it is one of the few remaining major industrial corporations in what used to be the industrial and commercial center of Greece, befo ...

shipyard on the island of

Syros Syros ( el, Σύρος ), also known as Siros or Syra, is a Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is south-east of Athens. The area of the island is and it has 21,507 inhabitants (2011 census). The largest towns are Ermoupoli, An ...

where they had been refitted. ''Superfast III'' was renamed ''

Spirit of Tasmania II MS ''Spirit of Tasmania II'' is a roll-on/roll-off ferry operated by TT-Line between Geelong and Devonport in Australia. Built in 1998 by Kvaerner Masa-Yards at Turku New Shipyard in Finland for Superfast Ferries as MS ''Superfast III'', sin ...

'' 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 TT-Line between Melbourne and Devonport in Australia. Built in 1998 by Kvaerner Masa-Yards at Turku New Shipyard in Finland for Superfast Ferries as MS ''Superfast IV'', sin ...

'' and departed 7 July. They set off for Australia both arriving in Hobart 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 where she arrived on 7 September. In late December it was announced that the ship had been sold to Fjord Line. Spirit of Tasmania III on Mersey River, Devonport, Tasmania

Spirit of Tasmania III on Mersey River, Devonport, Tasmania

In March 2003, it was announced that TT-Line would begin operating a third ship, '' Spirit of Tasmania III'', from Devonport to Sydney in early 2004. The last service from Sydney to Tasmania operated by ''Australian Trader'' had ceased in 1976. The new ship was also ex

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''.

2007-present

In December 2017, TT-Line announced it planned to replace the 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 Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft is a German shipbuilding company located in Flensburg. The company trades as ''Flensburger'' and is commonly abbreviated ''FSG''. History ''Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft'' was founded in 1872 by a group of ...

(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 has been 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, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In 2021, the Tasmanian government announced negotiations had resumed with Rauma Marine, with the contract being signed in April 2021. On the 23 October 2022, TT-Line moved its Victorian terminal from Station Pier to a new facility at Spirit of Tasmania Quay, Geelong.