Ongoing delays to the rollout of new Spirit of Tasmania vessels is lacing pressure on small businesses across the state. Some rely on being able to move larger vehicles but are finding there simply isn’t space on the current smaller ships. But there are hopes that firmer timeframes for the project could be known within days.
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00:00Melissa Cunningham started her business four years ago, transporting dogs between Tasmania and the mainland.
00:09Our business solely relies on the spirit of Tasmania.
00:12For her business to remain viable, she needs to be able to book a space on the ferries for a large van.
00:18But this is becoming increasingly difficult.
00:21We've got to beg to get on. We're on wait lists, which doesn't work when people want to know they want to move dogs.
00:26A lot of the time they only know within a week that they want to move the dogs and we just can't get the extra vehicle space on the boat.
00:33Melissa expected that the new, larger Spirit of Tasmania vessels would be in service by now.
00:39The delays in the rollout have been costly.
00:42We drew the line in the sand. If they weren't here by this October school holidays, we couldn't go on.
00:47This is just one of many stories that the ABC has been told about delays in booking vehicles on the current Spirit vessels.
00:54Some are reporting that the earliest large vehicle bookings aren't available until mid next year.
00:59And there's still no date for when the new, larger ships will actually be able to start operating at full capacity.
01:06I think everybody wants some time frames around this project.
01:09They're already five years late. They're half a billion dollars over budget and we still don't know when they're going to arrive.
01:16But that could be known on Thursday when the government responds to a report on using a temporary berth at Devonport
01:23and how to house the new ships while the permanent berth is built.
01:27We have received advice from the experts. It's very extensive and comprehensive.
01:34We'll be responding to that and the Premier will be making that very clear later this week.
01:40There'll also be a new Minister at the helm, former Sorrel Mayor Kerry Vincent, soon to be Infrastructure Minister.
01:47Kerry Vincent has common sense. He knows how to get things done. He works hard and he's the man to get that job done.
01:54But pressure remains on the two government businesses central to the bungled rollout, Tasports and TT Line.
02:01TT Line claiming the port operator delayed access to important areas for 11 months.
02:07I'm humbly and firmly of the view that the steps taken by Tasports were appropriate.
02:14But as I said, I won't get into the finger pointing.
02:17Businesses that rely on the spirit just want everyone involved to play nice.