Arabic version: السعة الكاملة لعبّارات سبيريت الجديدة لا تزال غير متاحة

According to ABC News, bookings on Tasmania’s new Spirit of Tasmania ferries remain limited to the capacity of the older vessels they will replace, with just over seven weeks until the scheduled inaugural sailing on October 31. The additional space on Spirit of Tasmania IV and V has not yet been released for sale.

Each new vessel has 4,098 lane metres for vehicles, compared with 2,565 lane metres on the old ferries. They also provide room for an additional 400 passengers, including through new accommodation options such as pet-friendly cabins. TT-Line has said it is selling tickets only up to the old ships’ capacity while further gantry testing and commissioning is completed.

As of September 9, passengers travelling from Geelong to Devonport with a standard-sized car could not book a sailing until November 19. Travellers towing a large caravan faced a next available sailing date of February 21. Customers can call TT-Line to join a waitlist for booked-out services, although the option is not available online.

In the other direction, availability for vehicles was less constrained. Caravan spaces from Devonport to Geelong were available throughout November and December, though about half of January sailings were booked out. No caravan availability was listed between February 22 and April 18 next year.

TT-Line chair Ken Kanofski told a parliamentary inquiry the remaining inventory would go on sale after wet testing, while chief executive Chris Carbone said it would be released once the gantry had been successfully commissioned. Caravan park operators in Devonport and Swansea said their bookings were tracking strongly for summer and they had not seen a decrease so far.