The Auditor-General of Tasmania in Australia has declared that state-owned ferry operator TT-Line Company has been insolvent since August of this year.
On Monday, November 10, Auditor-General Martin Thompson published a report detailing the financial statements of TT-Line Company and other state entities in Tasmania.
Mr Thompson's assessment was released after TT-Line Company's borrowing limit was raised to AU$1.4 billion (US$910 million) from the earlier limit if AU$990 million (US$650 million) and prior to a AU$75 million (US$49 million) equity injection by the government.
"I developed reasonable grounds to suspect that the company would not be able to meet its longer-term debts that fall due after the relevant period," Mr Thompson wrote in his report.
The audit report on TT-Line Company's financial statements was issued on August 19, 2025, at which time Mr Thompson deemed that the company was insolvent as, "it had incurred debt that it did not have the ability to repay."
The board of TT-Line Company, which operates the Spirit of Tasmania ferries, said that it disagreed with the Auditor-General's findings.
Ken Kanofski, Chairman of TT-Line Company, said that the company, "has more assets than liabilities," and that it is continuing, "to work on developing a range of long-term financially sustainable options for the government to consider."
The insolvency declaration comes as TT-Line Company continues to face scrutiny over a ferry replacement program beset by delays, cost overruns, and technical issues. As a result, two of the company's new ferries that were intended to be operational by 2024 are now scheduled to finally enter service in 2026.
"As I keep saying, governments should not be in the ferry business," Dr Neil Baird, Baird Maritime Co-Founder and ferry safety advocate, wrote earlier this year.
"It is a business that requires the best of free enterprise talents. It has been proved over and over again that bureaucrats do not possess those talents, no matter how smart they think they are. Their mistakes can be incredibly expensive and they, obviously, never have to wear those costs."