Devonport and Spirit of Tasmania IV’s 2 Hour Love-In

Fremantle Shipping News stands suitably chastised for its less than accurate reporting in our most recent report on Spirit of Tasmania IV’s journey to Hobart – Tassie Ferry Fiasco Nears Finish.

We are very pleased to correct our earlier report that Spirit IV simply sailed on and passed by Devonport without even a wave or a perfunctory hello. In fact, Spirit IV took a 2 hour pause from her journey to Hobart to let the good people of Devonport not only wave and say hello but also to get a pretty good look at her just off the coast – as Devonport Mayor Alison Jarman hoped she would.

Liz Knight was the first of a number of Devonport folk to alert us to the error of our ways –

Your spirit of Tasmania story is just a typical journalist Story, not accurate.

The ship sailed near Devonport port for a while so all of Devonport and others could view her before she went to Hobart. Fact check before printing next time.

Then Peter Lunson added –

I would like to point out some understandable inaccuracies in your story about Spirit IV’s voyage from Fremantle to Tasmania. I’m a keen ship tracking site user, and my most often used site is MarineTraffic. I learnt during the trip from Cape Town to Fremantle that there are large areas at sea not covered by MarineTraffic unless you pay a premium price for Satellite coverage. Similarly, I saw Spirit IV coverage disappear off the coast of Albany and not show up on the radar again until it reappeared near King Island on Friday. The tracker showed the voyage along the Tassie north coast, and then stopped off the coast of Devonport for a couple of hours as hoped for by Devonport’s Mayor Alison Jarman. It then continued along the north coast and down the east coast to arrive at Hobart Saturday morning.

There is a real sense of pride and excitement in Devonport about our ships, and there is always someone watching them come and go. They are part of our pulse! We can hear their horns sounding all over the city, and they often wake me in the mornings. When Spirit IV and V finally come into the river, there will be hundreds, maybe thousands to greet them. It will be a big day.

Andrew Young then confirmed what we were hearing, pointing out –

You are incorrect in your reporting of the arrival of the Spirit of Tasmania IV in Tasmanian waters. She sailed close to the North West Coast in easy view of onlookers. She was anchored off Devonport for two hours. Misty conditions made for less than ideal viewing but nevertheless we had a chance to see her. Her arrival in Hobart was in sunny weather. My photo shows her anchored off the mouth of the Mersey River in Devonport.

And here’s Andrew’s great pic.

Janice Buttery similarly emailed –

Just to let you know that the new Spirit IV anchored just near the coast of Devonport an area us locals call The Bluff for 2 hours. Many hundreds of people lined the foreshore to see the beautiful new ferry and wave to the crew. It was logistically impossible for the ferry to enter the Mersey River.

Yes, the building of the new ferry terminal has been a shambles, but let’s look forward now to a new era in Tasmania.

Enough negativity has been said which won’t change the situation.

You can look forward to Spirit V arriving on your shores sometime during the first part of 2026.

Here’s another pic from social media of Spirit IV off Devonport.

And another!

We at the Shipping News are truly grateful for this correspondence. We were actually surprised that Spirit appeared not to have paused at Devonport, as we thought and believed it should, from our reading of the ship tracking sites. That error however was due to the human error of our Editor not continuing to monitor Spirit’s journey on the tracking app once it was near Devonport for longer. Apologies to all Devonport folk for our misreporting. We should have had one or all of Liz, Peter, Andrew and Janice as our eyes and ears on the ground in Devonport. We will next time, when Spirit IV, then Spirit V, arrives.

The sense of anticipation and pride of Devonport in the forthcoming arrivals of the new ferries is undeniable.

Port cities like Devonport and Fremantle obviously have a lot in common.

🌻

By Michael Barker, Editor, Fremantle Shipping News

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