Spirit of Tasmania will operate double sailings on Saturday 11 June and Sunday 12 June to clear the backlog of passengers in Victoria and Tasmania subject to the Port of Devonport being reopened.
The decision was taken after TT-Line cancelled sailings out of Devonport and Melbourne tonight (9 June) after receiving advice from TasPorts that the Port of Devonport would remain closed until at least tomorrow (10 June).
TT-Line chief executive officer Bernard Dwyer said TasPorts had advised the company that results of a survey of the Mersey River to establish the depth of water available for commercial vessels would be known tomorrow morning.
“While we obviously need to wait for the survey results, TT-Line and TasPorts continue to work collaboratively to enable access for critical shipping movements,” he said.
Mr Dwyer said passengers had been advised of the changes.
“A decision about Friday night’s scheduled sailings will be made as soon as possible tomorrow,” he said.
Mr Dwyer said the Ports of Burnie and Bell Bay had been ruled out after extensive investigations concluded that both ports did not sufficiently allow for the Spirit of Tasmania vessels to use the facilities in a timely manner.
Mr Dwyer encouraged passengers to check the Spirit of Tasmania website for updates as follows:
https://www.spiritoftasmania.com.au/sailing-fares/travel-updates
A statement from TasPorts about the port’s closure is available at:
http://www.tasports.com.au/communications/latest_news.php
