A ferry is a boat that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus.
Devonport is a port city situated at the mouth of the Mersey River on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. Positioned 47 kilometres (29 mi) east of Burnie and 98 kilometres (61 mi) north of Launceston, its harbour manages over half of Tasmania's imports and exports, standing as the busiest freight port on the island. Devonport also plays a pivotal role in Tasmania's trade sector, supporting industries such as agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. The City of Devonport's gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated at $3.5b in 2023.
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is a Japanese transport company headquartered in Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the largest shipping companies in the world.
Burnie is a port city in Tasmania, Australia, located in Emu Bay on the north-west coast, 47 kilometres (29 mi) west from Devonport and 17 kilometres (11 mi) east from Wynyard. With an urban population of 19,550 in 2019, Burnie is the fourth largest city in Tasmania, serving as a major port for north-western agricultural and mining industries.
Hyundai Glovis Co., Ltd. is a logistics company headquartered in Seoul, South Korea and part of the Hyundai Motor Group. Its predecessor company, Hankook Logitech Co. Ltd was formed in February 2001. Hyundai Glovis supplies ocean transportation logistics advice, cargo space, loading/unloading, and packaging services. It changed its name to Hyundai Glovis in June 2003.
Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A., branded as MSC, is an international shipping line founded by Gianluigi Aponte in Italy in 1970. The company is owned by the Aponte family with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, since 1978. It is the world's largest container shipping company by both fleet size and cargo capacity, controlling 20 per cent of global container capacity as at July 2024.
The Bass Strait Triangle is the waters that separate the states of Victoria and Tasmania, including Bass Strait, in south-eastern Australia. The term Bass Strait Triangle appears to have been first used following the disappearance of Frederick Valentich in 1978 although the region had a bad reputation long before that.
HMAS Jervis Bay was a roll-on/roll-off passenger and vehicle ferry operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) between 1977 and 1994.
TT-Line Company Pty Ltd, trading as Spirit of Tasmania, is a Tasmanian Government-owned business that has been offering ferry services between mainland Australia and Tasmania since July 1993. Navigating the Bass Strait, Spirit of Tasmania ferry services cover a distance of 242 nautical miles between Geelong, Victoria and Devonport, Tasmania. Each journey across the "Sea Highway" takes approximately 9–11 hours in both directions.
Rail transport in Tasmania consists of a network of narrow gauge track of 1,067 mm reaching virtually all cities and major towns in the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Today, rail services are focused primarily on bulk freight, with no commercial passenger services being operated. The mainline railways of Tasmania are currently operated by TasRail, a Government of Tasmania-owned Corporation, who owns and maintains both rolling stock, locomotives, and track infrastructure.
Australian National Line (ANL) was a coastal shipping line established by the Government of Australia in 1956. It was sold in 1998 by the Howard government to CMA CGM.
SS Taroona was built in Linthouse, Glasgow by Alexander Stephen & Sons for Tasmanian Steamers, Australia. She was a steam turbine ship capable of 18 knots, but typically operated at 16 knots for better fuel economy.
Sea Swift is a north Australian shipping company. It operates in Northern Australia, mainly servicing remote and regional communities in Far North Queensland and the Northern Territory. The company provides freight and passenger services, and maritime logistical support, operating container ships in addition to barges, tugs and landing craft.
The Grimaldi Group is a private shipping company owned by the Grimaldi family and based in Naples, Italy. Grimaldi operates a large fleet of ro-ro, ro-ro/multipurpose, con-ro multipurpose, PCTC, ro-pax and cruise ferries vessels.
Bass Strait Ferries have been the ships that have been used for regular transport across Bass Strait between Tasmania and Victoria in mainland Australia, as well as the various attempts to link Tasmania with Sydney. Historically, some regular shipping services in the twentieth century linked Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart with the Bass Strait ports: Launceston's various port locations, Devonport and Burnie. The distinction between coastal shipping and Bass Strait ferry has been blurred at times.
The Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme is an Australian Government scheme to provide financial assistance to shippers of freight between Tasmania and mainland Australia. The scheme aims to assist in alleviating the sea freight cost disadvantage incurred by shippers of eligible non‐bulk goods moved between Tasmania and the mainland of Australia. It provides a freight subsidy to producers selling into Australian domestic markets, but not for exports outside of Australia.
Toll Domestic Forwarding (TDF) is a division of the Toll Group specialising in freight forwarding by road, rail and sea within and between Australia and New Zealand.
The Department of State Growth is a Tasmanian Government department responsible for fostering economic growth and creating job opportunities within the state. The department plays a vital role in supporting diverse and sustainable economic development, benefiting the Tasmanian community.
Toyofuji Shipping Co is a roll-on/roll-off shipping company based in Nagoya, Japan and owned by Toyota Group. It has a subsidiary branch in Europe for short sea operations within the region, located in Belgium.
The Sea Highway is an Australian colloquialism and figurative shipping route used to describe the sea lines of communication between the state of Victoria on the Australian mainland and island state of Tasmania across the Bass Strait.
