{"id":246790,"date":"2025-10-28T17:30:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T17:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/246790\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T17:30:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T17:30:20","slug":"spirit-of-tasmania-operator-refused-to-allow-tasports-to-speak-to-shipbuilder-over-design-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/246790\/","title":{"rendered":"Spirit of Tasmania operator refused to allow Tasports to speak to shipbuilder over design concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spirit of Tasmania operator TT-Line insisted on incorrect specification changes to fenders at the new berth in Devonport despite being questioned extensively by Tasports, a parliamentary hearing has been told.<\/p>\n

The problem was disclosed last month, with the fenders needing to be changed at a cost of $5 million, in addition to $4 million to strengthen the hulls on the two new vessels.<\/p>\n

It stemmed from an issue in mid-2023, when TT-Line directed a change to specifications for the new wharf being constructed by Tasports.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ken Kanofski speaks aboard the Spirit of Tasmania IV following its arrival in Hobart. (ABC News: Monty Jacka)<\/p>\n

New TT-Line chair Ken Kanofski told a parliamentary committee today that the changes were incorrect.<\/p>\n

“Tasports questioned it significantly,” he said.<\/p>\n

“TT-Line reiterated, as the client, that they wanted the specification that they asked for, and refused permission for Tasports to speak to the shipbuilder.<\/p>\n

“TT-Line insisted and said, ‘Dunno, we’re right, they’re our ships and we know what we’re doing.'”TT-Line sent wrong specs in ‘human error’, leading to $9m Spirit ferry fix<\/a><\/p>\n

The head of Tasmania’s state-owned ferry operator blames “human error” for a berth problem that needs a $9 million fix and modification to the hulls of the two new Spirit of Tasmania ships.<\/p>\n

The exchanges were between project-level staff at TT-Line and Tasports, with the emails revealed as part of a review of the scandal-plagued project.<\/p>\n

Mr Kanofski said the issue was emblematic of poor project management and should have been escalated at the time.<\/p>\n

“The project \u2026 did not have what I would call the normal checks and balances and governance that I would expect to see in a project of this scale,” he said.<\/p>\n

The cost of the changes will be absorbed by the project’s contingency budget, and the hulls will be strengthened early next year.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Construction underway at the new berth in Devonport. (Facebook: Jeremy Rockliff)<\/p>\n

‘Fragile nature’ of finances mentioned<\/p>\n

The committee heard that TT-Line was essentially “out of cash” before the Tasmanian government approved a $400 million increase to its borrowing limit in July.<\/p>\n

That borrowing was based on “optimistic” modelling, the committee heard.<\/p>\n

The government will also provide a $75 million equity injection in next week’s state budget, which could rise to $100 million.<\/p>\n

It is unlikely to be the last time the ferry operator needs a government bailout.<\/p>\n

“Nobody is denying the fragile nature of the finances at the moment,” Mr Kanofski said.<\/p>\n

He said the current levels of borrowing and government equity should sustain TT-Line for the next 18 to 24 months.<\/p>\n

TT-Line expects to provide the government with a revised corporate plan in the coming months, including 10-year financial modelling.<\/p>\n

It will request that the debt date for its borrowing limit \u2014 now over $1.4 billion \u2014 be extended 12 months to October 2027.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

An artist’s impression of the yet-to-be-completed berth terminal building in Devonport, released by the government today. (Supplied: TT-Line)<\/p>\n

\"the<\/p>\n

A render of the yet-to-be-completed interior of the Spirit of Tasmania terminal at Devonport. (Supplied: TT-Line)<\/p>\n

$1.8m to berth in Scotland<\/p>\n

The second of the two new vessels \u2014 Spirit V \u2014 will start its journey from Rauma shipyards in Finland to Leith in Scotland on Thursday.<\/p>\n

It will cost TT-Line $600,000 a month to berth the ship at Leith, likely to total $1.8 million over three months, 74 per cent of which will be spent on crew and fuel costs.<\/p>\n

This is in addition to the $5.9 million final cost to berth Spirit IV at Leith.<\/p>\n

The committee heard it cost $1 million a month to berth the ships in Hobart, due to the requirement to move ships regularly in an active port.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

Spirit of Tasmania IV seen preparing to depart Leith, Scotland, for Hobart, in June. (Supplied: TT-Line)<\/p>\n

‘Bad publicity’ cited as possible factor in low bookings<\/p>\n

The $493 million wharf upgrades in Devonport remain on track to be completed by October next year, when the two new vessels enter service.<\/p>\n

A 700-tonne gantry will be shipped from China in just over a month, to arrive in January.<\/p>\n

Mr Kanofski also provided an update on local content for the new vessels.<\/p>\n

The government promised to include $100 million of “local content”, but that includes $60 million of US, Swedish, Finnish and UK-made items ordered through an Australian company<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr Kanofski said an audit of the process would be conducted once the project was complete.<\/p>\n

The latest TT-Line annual report showed that passenger numbers had largely flatlined, or decreased, but Mr Kanofski said this could be due to a number of factors.<\/p>\n

“We also think that some of the current flat demand may be as a result of some of the bad publicity that we’ve been receiving for two years,” he said.<\/p>\n

“That’s just speculation.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spirit of Tasmania operator TT-Line insisted on incorrect specification changes to fenders at the new berth in Devonport…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,146585,44,146586,7830,49872,41,39,42,40,131632],"class_list":["post-246790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-ken-kanofski","tag-news","tag-public-accounts","tag-spirit","tag-spirit-of-tasmania","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-tt-line"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}