Spirit of Tasmania to set sail from Geelong.

[antycbr]

It's easier to reach Port Melbourne on the 109 tram from the CBD (which until 1987 was Australia's first railway opened in 1854) so I'd prefer TT Line stayed in Port Melbourne. However the decision's been made. I suspect patronage will decline.

Patronage for foot traffic may decline, but people will continue to take their cars. The price of rental cars in Tasmania dictates this for anyone who needs to move around Tasmania on a budget that is less than $500 a day.

 

[Stealthflyer]

Patronage for foot traffic may decline, but people will continue to take their cars. The price of rental cars in Tasmania dictates this for anyone who needs to move around Tasmania on a budget that is less than $500 a day.

Don’t forget too that there are a lot of Tasmanians on the Sprit. We like to escape with our cars once in awhile.

 

[Melburnian1]

Agree - not to mention Tassie products heading to wholesale markets in the west of Melbourne, in addition to those coming from North and West.

The wholesale market is now at Epping in Melbourne's northern suburbs.

Melbourne is the biggest manufacturing and warehousing centre in Australia, so you may be surprised at the number of movements to and from Melbourne's suburbs.

The 'Spirit's' move to Corio is inconvenient for the majority of Melburnians and potential passengers as they live in the inner south, bayside, inner and outer east and northeast, not in the northern or western suburbs.

 

[drron]

And Melbourne's population is 5.15 million whilst the rest of Australia is ~ 21 million.

 

[jb747]

The 'Spirit's' move to Corio is inconvenient for the majority of Melburnians and potential passengers as they live in the inner south, bayside, inner and outer east and northeast, not in the northern or western suburbs.

As the vast majority of people have never, and will never, go on these boats, no matter where they sail from, the majority of Melbournians will remain blissfully unaware and affected. The idea of getting as much unnecessary traffic as possible out of central Melbourne has to be worth pursuing.

 

[draper]

As the vast majority of people have never, and will never, go on these boats, no matter where they sail from, the majority of Melbournians will remain blissfully unaware and affected. The idea of getting as much unnecessary traffic as possible out of central Melbourne has to be worth pursuing.

Ships not “Boats”.

 

[RooFlyer]

Well I'll be damned:

On the importance of names, part two. What's the difference between a boat and a ship?

blogs.scientificamerican.com

 

[dajop]

The 'Spirit's' move to Corio is inconvenient for the majority of Melburnians and potential passengers as they live in the inner south, bayside, inner and outer east and northeast, not in the northern or western suburbs.

Remember the Spirit journey including boarding and disembarkation is overall at least 12 hrs. This change will add probably no more than 1 hr to the trip for those in the eastern and south eastern suburbs.

If convenience is something of paramount importance to a person, they will probably woukd fly and rent a car rather than catch the Spirit anyway.

 

[ramboflyer]

Bring back Sydney-Devonport! (Spirit III for while in early 2000s). Looking out the porthole at 7am and seeing a couple of islands glide past, abt 100m away was a bit disconcerting, though! Flinders/Furneaux group.

I'd go even further and suggest Hobart/Sydney. I'm sure Queenslanders and NSW people would support it let alone Tasmanians going directly north. Two ships, one between Hobart and Sydney, the other Devonport and Geelong. It will never happen of course given the State government keeing the northerners happy in the marginal electorates.

 

[dajop]

It will never happen of course given the State government keeing the northerners happy in the marginal electorates.

Or perhaps simply economically it doesn’t make sense.

Ties up a lot of capital for a lot longer and takes quite a bit more fuel, and at 2.7x the distance surely it wouldn’t make sense for freight either.

 

[Forg]

Or perhaps simply economically it doesn’t make sense.

Ties up a lot of capital for a lot longer and takes quite a bit more fuel, and at 2.7x the distance surely it wouldn’t make sense for freight either.

I assume the Sydney service was canned because it wasn’t ever particularly full and yet it also took some sales from the Melbourne service?

I wonder if rental car costs will stay high for long enough to change the economics, though? The general supply-chain problems that caused the situation aren’t looking like easing any time soon, but it probably is “soon” in the context of getting an entire ocean-going ferry commissioned.

 

[Scarlett]

Ships not “Boats”.

Maritime targets, not “Ships”.

 

[Subharpoon]

Maritime targets, not “Ships”.

View attachment 279834

There are two types of ships: submarines and targets!

 

[moa999]

Yep. Believe the Sydney service never got enough pax. Cost per pax is roughly proportional to sailing time, so it was more than double the Melbourne service and almost took 24hrs.

Cheaper and quicker to drive the land part, and it obviously made flying and renting a car more of an alternate.

 

[drron]

Or perhaps simply economically it doesn’t make sense.

Ties up a lot of capital for a lot longer and takes quite a bit more fuel, and at 2.7x the distance surely it wouldn’t make sense for freight either.

There are already at least 4 ships taking freight including vehicles across Bass Strait already. Toll has 2 operating out of Burnie and Sea Road 2 out of Devonport. wouldn't be that much extra for a second car ferry service from Hobart.

 

[RooFlyer]

I'd go even further and suggest Hobart/Sydney. I'm sure Queenslanders and NSW people would support it let alone Tasmanians going directly north. Two ships, one between Hobart and Sydney, the other Devonport and Geelong. It will never happen of course given the State government keeing the northerners happy in the marginal electorates.

I was living in Sydney at the time and there was great debate about the service being Sydney-Devonport or Sydney-Hobart. I understand it came down to the fact that a Sydney-Hobart service would be two full days or two nights and it was felt that this was too long for 'busy Sydney people' , and they would then just fly and hire a car. And at the time I agreed with that thinking. I was moving back to Tas at the time, so I wouldn't have minded!

They were prbably right. Even the Sydney-Devonport service was axed because of low patronage (cheap airfares).

Tasmania axes Sydney to Devonport ferry service

www.smh.com.au

 

[ramboflyer]

Even the Sydney-Devonport service was axed because of low patronage (cheap airfares).

Queensland and NSW people may be more likely to take the ship from Sydney to Hobart than Devonport and Tasmanians escaping to Queensland by car/caravan could get a head start getting off in Sydney. I quite enjoy the ship when taking the car across and when the new ships come into service it should be even more pleasant. Two nights could be fun as long as it's not too expensive. There are lots of caravanners going back and forth and many might like going between Sydney and Hobart. Personally I would support it.

 

[Simo]

Doing the Ferry to Tasmania is on my bucket list. I have ordered a new car and will take it down there to do some exploring with it.

 

[dajop]

I think maybe Rex should run the Sydney-Hobart ferry. It fits with their ethos of expanding into loss making operations. And then they would have more to complain about, regarding the competition from Qantas.

 

[lameyofth]

If the giant banner that they've put up on the fence directing workers to the entrance to the Spirit of Tasmania worksite is any indication, yes. They've got their work cut out for them though, it's not exactly the nicest area there to make a first impression on people coming into Geelong.

Kodi nox​