TT-Line has confirmed to a parliamentary hearing that its Devonport Berth 3 project is “under cost pressure”.
Chair Ken Kanofski told the committee on Thursday that the design of the new gantry structure and its marine foundations “present the biggest risk to both time and cost”.
The project was originally expected to cost $90 million four years ago, but that figure ballooned to $375 million last year.
“We will not be providing details today, other than to say, as per the government’s announcement last week, we believe that the alternative design solution provides a good opportunity for meeting the earliest possible completion date,” he said.
Kanofski said time and cost are “integrally linked” to current negotiations with contractors, and releasing figures now would be “highly prejudicial to the state’s interest”.
Instead, updated cost and time estimates are expected in the next four to five weeks.
“Both time and cost remain uncertain and are subject to the results of that negotiation. We do not have a properly tested and authorised estimate to release,” Kanofski said.
“Cost and time is never guaranteed at any stage of an infrastructure project and is not useful to release updated information every time something positive or negative happens. These things happen on a daily basis.”
The project is aiming to have the new terminal up and running by February 2027 at the latest, though the goal is to finish before October 2026 to accommodate the arrival of the new Spirit ferries for the 2026–27 peak season.
“One part of this project is very complex. The rest of, frankly, [is] pretty simple,” he said.
“The part of this project that is complex is the loading gantry structure and the associated guide dolphins and the piling and the foundations that support that.”
Labor leader Dean Winter called Kanofski’s words “code for major cost blowouts”.
“This is Tasmanian taxpayer money being used like confetti by the Rockliff government and this is how we get to $10 billion worth of net debt that’s going to cost our economy half a billion dollars a year in interest repayments,” he said.
“When I drive past Devonport I’m staggered at the lack of progress that’s been happening at Berth 3 and now we know why. The reason is they still have not finished the design.”
