The ship – and its sister vessel Spirit of Tasmania V, which is still being built – had previously been described as a “game changer” for Tasmania’s tourism industry.
But construction delays, rising costs and the problems with upgrading existing infrastructure have turned it into the state’s biggest political scandal in a decade.
Australian media have described it as a “fiasco” and “debacle” while opposition leader Dean Winter called it the “biggest infrastructure stuff-up”, external in the state’s history.
The cost of building the two LNG dual-fuel ships has risen by A$94m (£47.5m) from A$850m (£430m) when the contract was signed in 2021 – while the port upgrade costs, originally estimated at A$90m (£45.5m), have more than quadrupled.
Both the ferry company TT-Line and ports firm TasPorts are state-owned, and in August the infrastructure minister, Michael Ferguson, and TT-line chairman, Mike Grainger, both resigned.
In recent days it has emerged that the berth in Devonport – that was supposed to be built by August 2024 — would not be completed until October 2026 at the earliest.
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