Spirit of Tasmania: Edgewater Hotel sale falls through as TT-Line posts $8.6m profit
Key revelations from TT-Line’s 2023 annual report include a failed asset sale, a $22m financial turnaround and the story of how relocation to Geelong has boosted freight prospects. Find out the details.
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Spirit of Tasmania’s operator, TT-Line Company Pty Ltd, negotiated a $3.44m sale for the land, business and freehold title of Devonport’s Edgewater Hotel, which the company has held for two decades, but it failed to progress.
The aborted sale is detailed in TT-Line’s annual report, which was tabled in state parliament last week.
According to the company’s financial report, prepared by the Tasmanian Audit Office, TT-Line’s board “made the decision to sell Edgewater Hotel including its land, buildings and equipment,” during the course of the financial year.
The Edgewater, located at 4 Thomas St, East Devonport, features a public bar, 70-seat dining room, a large commercial kitchen, lounge bar and reception, gaming lounge with 30 machines and Keno, gymnasium, large conference/function room with satellite kitchen, motel section with 42 rooms, on-site parking and surplus land across its 3509 sqm site.
TT-Line has owned the freehold title and business since 2003.
While the Edgewater’s sale was approved at the June 2023 board meeting, and in July a sale agreement was signed, it never progressed, and the Edgewater remains in the possession of TT-Line.
According to the financial report, TT-Line expected to received $500,000 from the sale of land, and $2.944m from the sale of the business and freehold title.
The Edgewater continues to be advertised for sale by Knight Frank Hobart. Agent Nicholas Bond said Knight Frank conducted site inspections in the past fortnight in the hunt for a new buyer.
TT-Line’s record passenger numbers, the relocation of its Victorian base from the Port of Melbourne to Geelong after 37 years, and the ongoing construction of its two new ships, Spirit of Tasmania IV and V, headlined the annual report.
TT-Line brought in $307.1m of revenue in FY 2022–23, up from $240.8m the year prior, and made an after-tax profit of $8.6m, a vast turnaround for the company following an after-tax loss of $14.1m the year prior.
The number of sailings increased by 73 to 896 in FY23, while a “record number” of passengers, 450,012, were transported, up from 284,323 the year prior.
The ongoing construction of the two new vessels via Finland’s Rauma Marine Constructions loomed especially large in TT-Line’s annual report.
The company is due to receive the two new vessels next year. Construction is “well advanced” on Spirit of Tasmania IV, while V had a keel-laying ceremony in May.
Passenger capacity on the new, larger vessels will increase from 1400 to 1800, the number of lane metres for passenger and freight vehicles will increase by almost 60 per cent, and the number of cabins will increase from 222 to 301.
Throughout FY23, TT-Line representatives, including CEO and board members, spent approximately $1.15m on international travel, the “majority” of which was related to the new vessel builds.
Regarding the move to Geelong, TT-Line lost a small amount of its freight business in the relocation across Port Phillip Bay, but it has since rebounded, with freight volumes in May and June exceeding budget forecast.
On Monday, TT-Line will hold an event in Geelong to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the relocation of Spirit of Tasmania’s Victorian terminal.
A key feature of the new leasehold facility at the Port of Geelong of a “spacious” new freight yard with secure 24-hour access to increase operational capacity.
Last week, the company announced it had engaged Tasmanian production company HYPE TV to “capture every milestone during the construction of Spirit of Tasmania IV and Spirit of Tasmania V”.
Spirit of Tasmania CEO and managing director Bernard Dwyer said the new vessels are one of the most significant investments in the company’s history.
“Given its importance, capturing the progress of the vessels’ construction for posterity was critical,” Mr Dwyer said.
The first two episodes of an eight-part series, ‘The Journey to Bass Strait,’ which feature time lapse cameras along with regular interviews with project leads, engineers, designers and builders in Finland, have been uploaded to YouTube.
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Originally published as Spirit of Tasmania: Edgewater Hotel sale falls through as TT-Line posts $8.6m profit
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