Spirit of Tasmania I and II were built in 1998 by Kvaerner Masa-Yards in Finland. They have a displacement weight of almost 30,000 tonnes and a length of 194.3 metres.

Spirit of Tasmania I and II cross Bass Strait at a cruising speed of 27 knots  which is the equivalent of 50 kilometres per hour. The 429 kilometre voyage across Bass Strait is roughly twice the distance by road between Devonport and Strahan, on Tasmania’s west coast.

Stretched end-to-end, the vehicle lanes on each ship would be almost two kilometres long!

Spirit of Tasmania Facts
Operator	TT-Line Company Pty Ltd
Builder	Kvaerner Masa-Yards of Finland
Year built	1998
Ship type	Roll On/Roll Off passenger and freight vessel
Class	American Bureau of Shipping
Overall length	194.3m
Overall width	25.0m
Gross tonnage	29,338 tonne
First commercial crossing	1 September 2002
Average speed	27 knots
Crossing time	9-11 hours (approx.)
Total berths	748
Number of cabins (all with bathroom facilities)	222
Ocean View Recliners	146
Vehicle lane metres	2,565 metres
Distance from port to port	232 nautical miles (429 kilometres)
Distance from head to head	190 nautical miles (352 kilometres)
Distance from Station Pier to head	42 nautical miles (77 kilometres)

Note: A knot equals 1 nautical mile per hour. A nautical mile equals 6080 feet, 1852 metres or 1.85 kilometres.