00:02Tasmania's new Bass Strait ferries, now worth $300 million less than when they were built.
00:08That revaluation, part of the ferry operator's results for last financial year.
00:14You only got to drive a new car off a showroom floor to know that assets go down,
00:20new machinery goes down in value immediately that you put it into service.
00:25The accounts show TTLine made an operating profit of just over $1.5 million,
00:31but a drop in the value of its assets turned that into a $723 million loss.
00:38That is significant. I'm not seeking to suggest that's not significant,
00:42but it is non-cash and it has no impact on our equity ask, it has no impact on our
00:50debt position.
00:51The value of the old ferries, which TTLine is trying to sell, fell from $174 million to about $88 million.
01:01The new ship's value fell from just over $1 billion to $718 million,
01:07and the Devonport and Geelong terminals also lost value.
01:11The write-downs blamed partly on global instability and partly on the blowout in berth construction costs.
01:18That helped inflate the ferry replacement program's cost overruns to $717 million.
01:25Still, TTLine says its trading outlook is strong.
01:29At the end of the day, we have ownership of those four vital assets of Geelong, Devonport, the two new
01:39ships,
01:39and they will be delivering for the Tasmanian economy.
01:43And will potentially allow both more freight to be brought here and more Tasmanian produce to be shipped to the
01:50mainland and overseas.
01:52That should be positive for TTLine's bottom line.
01:56TTLine's debt will peak this year at $1.15 billion.
02:01And it's expecting to get another installment of a $506 million taxpayer-funded bailout soon.
02:08I don't think it's on a good financial footing, and I don't think any Tasmanians believe that.
02:12We've seen nearly $600 million in bailout payments, a company drowning in debt.
02:18A ferry operator still charting a path out of troubled waters.
02:22A ferry operator still charting a path out of the bank.
02:22A ferry operator.
02:22A ferry operator.
02:23A ferry operator.
