Spirit of Tasmania IV Reaches Devonport for October Service Entry
The ferry spent nearly a year laid up in Leith while its Devonport berth was completed
Tasmania's long-delayed ferry replacement programme has reached a milestone with the arrival of Spirit of Tasmania IV in Devonport for operational commissioning and crew training. The vessel is due to enter service in October.
The route to that point has been unusually long. Construction began in 2022 at Finland's Rauma Marine yard, and the 212-metre, 48,000 gross ton ship was delivered in September 2024. With no completed berth to receive her, she was laid up in Leith, Scotland, for close to a year at a cost of around A$47,000 a week in berthing fees.
The ferry finally left Leith in June 2025 and made a 14,857-nautical-mile passage to Hobart, where final fitting-out and crew training were carried out. Her arrival in Devonport coincides with the near-completion of Spirit Quay, the new Terminal 3 facility.
The terminal is where the programme's cost overruns are most visible. Originally budgeted at A$90 million, it has reached roughly A$495 million. The new ro-ro ferry carries 1,800 passengers, has a 25-year design life, operates at speeds of up to 26 knots and is expected to lift freight capacity on the Bass Strait route by 40 percent.
Sistership Spirit of Tasmania V was delivered in June 2025 and arrived from Leith in April 2026. She is also scheduled to enter service by the end of October.
The replacement programme dates back to 2018, when TT-Line ordered vessels from Germany's FSG yard. That contract was later cancelled, the design reworked, and construction awarded to Rauma Marine in 2021. The two new ships replace vessels built in 1998.
