New Fast Ferry To Burnie On Cards

The Age

Monday April 5, 1999

PHILIP HOPKINS

The odds are strengthening that a new fast ferry service between Victoria and Tasmania will start operating from Western Port Bay next summer.

The private service would run between Stony Point on the Mornington Peninsula and Burnie in northern Tasmania.

It would operate against or replace the struggling Devil Cat fast ferry, which is expected to make another loss this season. The larger ferry, Spirit of Tasmania, on the other hand, continues to break passenger records.

A Burnie City Council spokesman said a decision on whether to go ahead with the project was about ``a month or so away". ``All indications are very positive. I am confident we will get the project off the ground," he said.

The venture is the result of 18 months' cooperation between Burnie City and Mornington Peninsula Shire, who commissioned a feasibility study by a Melbourne consultant, Thompson Clarke Shipping.

The study concluded that a fast ferry between Stony Point and Burnie was a much more viable commercial proposition than the current Devil Cat service between Melbourne and George Town.

It investigated 16 potential routes between the two states, and a range of other issues including the type of vessel, pricing policy, sailing schedules, fare modelling, operations costs and port fee structures.

The study found that the direct route between Stony Point and Burnie is 169 nautical miles compared to 229 nautical miles between Melbourne and George Town.

By cutting the distance by a third, a new service would save a lot of money on fuel and other running costs. Fares would also probably be cheaper.

Crossing time would also be cut from six-and-a-half hours to four hours, enabling two complete crossings a day in the peak summer season.

Western Port is deeper than Port Phillip Bay and easier to gain access to from Bass Strait.

Stony Point has a sound infrastructure. It has a ferry service to Phillip Island, is served by a train from Frankston and is about one hour's drive from the centre of Melbourne. It has also become more accessible because of the upgraded road to Hastings from the Princes Freeway.

A ferry operator has been approached to run the service. No decision has been reached on whether to use a high-speed catamaran or a monohull craft.

However, the vessel is expected to be able to carry more than 750 passengers and more than 300 cars.

Talks have been held with the Tasmanian Government and the Federal Government, which provides a vehicle subsidy for the Spirit of Tasmania. The Burnie spokesman said one of the disadvantages of the Spirit was that people became discouraged because they had to book ahead. The new vessel would allow more people to holiday in Tasmania at short notice.

Tasmania's new Labor Government will have to decide whether to continue the Devil Cat fast ferry service next year. Devil Cat lost $3.38 million in 1997-98.

Passenger numbers are up this year; 37,490 have travelled or booked on the 1998-99 four-month service compared to 27,379 last year.

``While this looks promising ... at current booking levels, the financial performance of the catamaran service this season is unlikely to represent an improvement on the losses which were incurred last year," TT Line's chief executive, Mr Peter Simmons, said earlier this year.

The Spirit of Tasmania completed another record six months in the second half of 1998, carrying 133,200 passengers and 45,900 cars.

This trend continued over December and January. The total number of passengers who have travelled or a booked to travel between 1 December and 30 April stands at 157,889 compared to 141,589 last season.

© 1999 The Age

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