The Spirit of Tasmania I ferry has been forced to cancel its Saturday evening sailing from Devonport to Geelong due to forecast “adverse weather conditions”.
The ferry will instead leave Devonport on Sunday at approximately 7:30am, with the return sailing from Geelong to Devonport on Sunday rescheduled to Monday.
The cancellation has also impacted the Sunday night sailing from Devonport, which has been cancelled and the Monday morning sailing from Geelong, which has been moved to the afternoon.
Spirit of Tasmania says passengers booked on the affected trips have been notified and offered the option to stay on board overnight.
The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast strong winds with gusts in excess of 110km/h for most of Tasmania tonight, with areas in the north, west and far south likely to experience destructive gusts of over 125km/h.
“The winds have eased a little bit today. However, we are expecting the strongest winds to redevelop later this afternoon and into this evening,” meteorologist Alex Melitsis said.
“It’s really important that people understand that the winds tonight, particularly in the north and the west, are going to be quite dangerous and rare.”
The Spirit of Tasmania II ferry, which has been in dry dock in Sydney, will arrive in Devonport on Monday morning.
Both ferries will operate double sailings on Monday to clear any passenger, vehicle and freight backlog.
