Divide and conquer
SEPARATING passenger and freight traffic at the Spirit of Tasmania’s dedicated Geelong facility is expected to help greatly reduce turnaround times.
When TT-Line unveils the first of two new Spirit of Tasmania vessels from late 2023, capacity will go up by about 40 per cent with each ship able to accommodate up to 1800 passengers.
But TT-Line chief executive Bernard Dwyer told a Geelong business and tourism webinar that improved functionality, including being able to load and discharge from an extra deck, would improve in-port efficiency.
He said the Spirit of Tasmania vessels currently took about three hours to unload, clean and reload.
“What we need to target, and what we are targeting, is an hour and a half when we are in Geelong with the new vessels,” Mr Dwyer said.
“At the moment we have two decks of loading and discharge; the new vessels will have three decks of loading and discharge.”
He said the separation of passenger and freight traffic, which was currently combined, was central to improving turnaround times at GeelongPort’s $135m facility.
“It’s a very much more efficient way of operating,” Mr Dwyer said.
The Spirit of Tasmania will relocate its Victorian dock from Station Pier to Corio Quay South next year with the ferry service, operated by Tasmanian governmentbacked TT-Line, recently signing an $850m contract with Rauma Marine Constructions in Finland to deliver two replacement ships.
Construction of the 212mlong vessels is scheduled to start early next year with the first to be delivered in late 2023 and the second in late 2024.
It means the Geelong dock must be engineered to facilitate roll-on, roll-off freight for the current ships and the new ones, and for a period will work with both.
Mr Dwyer said TT-Line was excited by the potential of working out of a dedicated terminal precinct.
“We operate out of a 1ha site at Station Pier in Port Melbourne,” he said.
”To be able to expand our footprint to 12ha will improve our logistics and other facilities and services for our passengers and freight customers.”
Detailed design work on the precinct is close to being finalised, with GeelongPort expected to announce construction contracts in five key packages between July and September.