Transport Minister Eric Abetz has revealed details about lengthy efforts to secure a lease for the first new Spirit of Tasmania ferry, confirming that a multi-million-dollar offer was received.
State-owned ferry operator TT-Line had been working with a broker to lease Spirit IV, as the vessel cannot enter service in Tasmania until 2027 due to insufficient port infrastructure.
Since late last year, the ferry has been docked in Scotland. However, despite attempts, it will not be leased out and will instead come home to Tasmania.
“Let me put it on record that while Spirit IV was still in Finland, there was interest in having her leased and people went to inspect,” Abetz told Parliament on Thursday.
“She then went to Leith and that was also a place where, on good sound advice, given that the most likely place for charter or lease was in the Northern Hemisphere, it made sense to keep her in that marketplace.”
According to Abetz, there were “early enquiries” from 14 different parties, with 12 expressing interest in using the vessel for “ferry operations” and two considering it for “accommodation purposes”.
“On January 13, two representatives from a party interested in utilising the vessel for an accommodation solution inspected the vessel in Scotland,” Abetz said.
“On January 20, two representatives from an agency that may provide support for an accommodation solution also inspected the vessel in Scotland.”
“On January 22, that is two days later, through the broker, an offer for a long-term charter was received.”
While the identity of the party that made the offer remains undisclosed, reports suggested the Scottish Government was poised to lease the ferry to house Ukrainian refugees – a claim it denied.
Abetz said the lease offer “provided a potential opportunity for $20 million to $30 million in revenue over a 12-month period”.
“Here we have the Labor Party for weeks on end asserting that somehow the government and TT-Line had been lying to the people of Tasmania. False, false, false,” he said.
“Commercial negotiations were taking place and as a result, as a responsible government, as a responsible minister, you do not say what is going on in the event that you prejudice the commercial negotiations and the possibility of a return to the Tasmanian people of literally millions of dollars.”
“Deliberately undermining that process, wishing that process not to succeed for cheap political purposes is something that ought to be condemned and condemned very, very widely.”
Labor leader Dean Winter remains sceptical and believes there “are a lot more questions that need to be answered”.
“The Minister for Transport spoke today passionately in defence of leasing our ships in Scotland … he named up that there were people that came to but what he didn’t say is what actually happened with the commercial negotiations,” Winter said.
“Who was TT-Line or Minister Abetz or Premier Rockliff actually negotiating with? Was there ever any actual, real negotiation? Was anyone ever actually interested in this or was it just another ploy to keep our ship on the other side of the world for even longer?”
More on this story: Floating refugee camp lease was the ‘most likely’ option for new Spirit of Tasmania
