The two new Spirit of Tasmania ferries have been written down by $368 million before carrying a single paying passenger, helping push operator TT-Line to a $723 million loss for 2025-26.
The state-owned company’s financial statements, released today, also cut the value of its new Devonport and Geelong terminals and halved the value of the outgoing Spirits I and II, which are now for sale.
TT-Line chairman Ken Kanofski said the write-downs did not change the government’s $506 million equity injection or the company’s debt levels.
“In simple terms, we are talking about accounting catching up with well-known financial challenges of the company,” he said.
The company said $646.9 million of the loss came from non-cash revaluations, impairments and tax asset adjustments.
It said it made an operating profit of $1.55 million before interest, depreciation and amortisation.
The new Spirits IV and V were revalued from $1.086 billion to $717.9 million.
The Devonport terminal fell from $416.8 million to $282.8 million and the Geelong terminal from $311 million to $262.1 million.
Spirits I and II dropped from $174.3 million to $87.5 million.
The company said the write-downs reflected more than $300 million in capitalised costs, including extra payments to the shipbuilders, costs from changing contractors on Berth 3 and capitalised interest.
It said new assets usually lose market value once they enter service and it also pointed to global uncertainty.
Kanofski said the result also reflected a $717 million cost overrun against the original business case for the ships and berths.
The write-downs are more than double the figure flagged by the Tasmanian Public Finance Corporation (TasCorp).
In September, TasCorp told a parliamentary committee the write-downs could exceed $275 million and that TT-Line was not expected to fully repay its roughly $1.145 billion debt until 2052.
This week, TasCorp and Treasurer Eric Abetz approved changes that will allow TT-Line to push out its debt maturity dates. Kanofski said the company had been “solvent at all times.”
Auditor-General Martin Thompson formed the view in July 2025 that TT-Line was insolvent, based on its forecasts at the time. The board has disputed that finding.
Kanofski said sale talks for Spirits I and II had “ramped up quite substantially” and involved multiple potential buyers.
Abetz said the government was “confident that there shouldn’t be any more draws.”
“The infrastructure will serve Tasmania for decades to come, with significantly increased capacity for tourism and freight,” he said.
Labor leader Josh Willie described the project as “an absolute fiasco” and an “international laughingstock”.
“I think TT-Line is going to be drowning in debt for decades and that’s Premier Rockliff’s legacy to Tasmania,” he said.
“TT-Line is clearly struggling and the auditor-general was correct in his opinion that the company was insolvent.”
The results come after Spirit of Tasmania I made its final passenger voyage to Geelong on Thursday night, the same day the new Spirit Quay terminal opened in Devonport.
Spirit of Tasmania II will make its last sailing tonight, with no passenger crossings until the new ships begin service on October 31.
