Pizzas ordered as Spirit of Tassie breakdown causes long Geelong delays, before dogs bark all night
Hundreds of people — some with dogs — waited hours to board the Spirit of Tasmania in Geelong on Thursday night. When they finally boarded there was “non-stop” barking and car alarms.
Hundreds of tired and hungry travellers — some with dogs — waited for hours to board the Spirit of Tasmania in Geelong on Thursday night, after problems were discovered with one of the ship’s bow thrusters.
Pictures uploaded to social media showed a tug boat pulling alongside the vessel early in the evening.
Hundreds of cars were banked up well after 9pm still waiting to board the ship — which was scheduled for departure at 6.45pm — with reports it remained in port until after 11pm.
Passengers took to social media to express their frustration, with one dog owner saying: “I finally boarded after seven hours to be offered a kennel that would struggle to fit a 10kg dog in, and mine are 30 kgs.”
The woman said she had booked her trip 11 months-ago.
“I got here at 3.30pm for a 6.45pm departure (and) I have only just got to my room at 11pm,” Nerrida Vallack-Lewis said.
“The kennels are awful. A dog was non-stop barking and had already messed his kennel. It’s not all lovely like they tell you and the photos look. They are stuffed in on the levels that the cars are on.”
She added her husband had to lift one of their 32kg dogs into a kennel up high, and she could hear car alarms going off constantly and dogs barking from level seven.
Other passengers said they only got messages from the Spirit of Tasmania to alert them to the delay hours’ after the ship’s scheduled departure time.
Some had left their cars and were standing outside, clearly frustrated by the long delay.
Two staff members were seen collecting pizzas from a delivery driver outside the Geelong terminal just after 9.15pm.
Some fed-up passengers abandoned their cars and boarded the ship on foot with their luggage.
A Spirit of Tasmania spokesman said one of two thrusters on the ship had “ingested” a piece of rope while in Geelong and tug boats had to be used to assist its departure.
“The issue of the bow thruster does not affect the safe operation of the vessel,” he said.
“The company apologises for any inconvenience to passengers.”
It’s understood the ship did not leave port until after 11pm.
The Spirit of Tasmania has promised improved facilities for dogs as well as dog-friendly cabins on its new ships.
The Spirit of Tasmania IV and V ships each offer 18 dog-friendly cabins, as well as a secure, climate-controlled pet housing area, with a range of kennel sizes.
But the replacement ferries have been trouble-plagued.
Spirit of Tasmania operator TT-Line plans to berth the new Spirit of Tasmania IV ship in Geelong but in October this year it was confirmed one of the sites being considered at Point Henry was unsuitable for safety reasons.
An assessment found the Point Henry site would need more bollards to berth the ship.
Instead the ship will be stored at a berth near where the exiting Spirits dock.
The first of the two new ferries, Spirit IV, arrived in Hobart in late August following a shocking series of delays and budget overruns, which ultimately led to the resignation of former Tasmanian Infrastructure Minister Michael Ferguson.
The new ships cannot begin service in Tasmania because the Port of Devonport doesn’t have a berth suitable for the bigger ferries, with a new Berth 3 at Devonport now needed to be built.
And TT-Line recently confirmed Spirit of Tasmania V would be berthed in Europe until the end of the Australian summer cruise ship season, as the most cost effective means of storing the ship.
Originally published as Pizzas ordered as Spirit of Tassie breakdown causes long Geelong delays, before dogs bark all night
