TT-Line posts $723m loss, writes down ferries before maiden sail

TT-Line, the Tasmanian government’s ferry operator, reported a $723 million accounting loss for 2025-26 in results published on 23 October 2026, days before its two new ships are due to enter Bass Strait service at the end of the month. The result includes a $646.9 million write-down across the operator’s four-ship fleet and two terminals, cutting the book value of the brand-new vessels and the ageing ones they are replacing alike, just as the new ships prepare to enter service.

Why it matters

The timing sharpens the write-down’s significance. TT-Line is weeks from retiring its two current vessels and switching the Melbourne-Devonport run to the newly built Spirit of Tasmania IV and V, yet those new ships have themselves lost hundreds of millions of dollars in paper value before carrying a single paying passenger. Chair Ken Kanofski attributed the drop in value to unrest in the Middle East denting demand for large vessels, higher interest rates, and the older ships’ now-costlier fuel technology, and said the write-down is non-cash and does not change the government’s equity commitment or the company’s debt position. For a state-owned operator whose solvency has already been questioned, though the company says it has been solvent at all times, a fresh three-quarter-billion-dollar loss keeps the ferry service’s finances under scrutiny even as the new fleet approaches handover. It also raises the question of how much the two outgoing ships will actually fetch once TT-Line finds a buyer.

The numbers

The $646.9 million write-down falls across every asset class TT-Line owns. The two new ships, Spirit IV and V, were cut from a combined $1.086 billion book value to $717.9 million. The two ships they are replacing fell from $174.3 million to $87.5 million. The Devonport terminal was marked down from $416.8 million to $282.8 million, and the Geelong terminal from $311 million to $262.1 million. Those four reductions total about $637.8 million of the $646.9 million write-down, which sits inside the wider $723 million annual loss. The write-down lands on top of a separate $506 million state equity injection over four years, announced in the 2026-27 budget, which the government has said covers capital cost overruns already incurred on the new ships rather than new spending. TT-Line is also in advanced negotiations to sell the two outgoing vessels, though the company expects that sale to raise less than it once anticipated. None of the four figures above were disclosed as estimates; TT-Line booked them as the asset values now carried on its balance sheet.

What’s next

Spirit of Tasmania IV and V are scheduled to enter Bass Strait service from the end of October, the same fleet renewal the write-down has just been booked against. Whether the new ships’ reduced book value proves a one-off correction or the first of further write-downs will depend on how quickly TT-Line can close a sale on the two retiring vessels and on broader demand for large ferries. The $506 million equity injection stays tied to the 2026-27 budget cycle, and the questions over its solvency mean TT-Line’s full financial position will keep drawing scrutiny well beyond this result. The loss adds to a run of big state financial commitments on Tasmania’s books, alongside Hobart’s $1.13b Macquarie Point stadium, that will weigh on how much room the 2026-27 budget has left for further support.