Three sea pilots, Paul Ringe, Keith Finnemore and Maurie Cobal founded Peninsula Searoad Transport Pty Ltd (PST) in 1983. They believed that a vehicular ferry should run between Queenscliff and Sorrento. There were mixed opinions about this from the public. Some people thought that the novelty would wear off and then business would fail. However, the various tourism boards in Victoria were excited about the prospect of having a vehicular ferry, linking the two peninsulas and would also create tourism jobs.
Peninsula Princess After various planning, on 19 June 1987 the
Peninsula Princess was launched in
Carrington,
New South Wales. She underwent sea trials before moving to Port Phillip Bay. Her crew boarded her in
Geelong,
Victoria to get a feel for the vessel. She had to wait there for the Queenscliff berth to be completed. The first sailing was intended to be on 7 September 1987, at Queenscliff and Sorrento were not yet complete. On 13 September 1987, she entered service. On the first arrival at Sorrento, the skipper encountered a problem with the ahead/astern controls. She hit the concrete wharf and whilst tyres around the wharf buffered the impact there was still considerable damage done to the
transom. Commercial operations started on the weekend commencing 19 September 1987.
MV Queenscliff , with
MV Queenscliff unloading cars By the early 1990s, traffic using the ferry had increased, and an increase in capacity was required to cope. A new and much larger ferry, the
MV Queenscliff was purchased, and work commenced on the ferry berths to enable them to handle the new ferry. At Sorrento the existing berth was altered, while at Queenscliff a new berth was built to the south. These works were not without controversy, and Peninsula Searoad Transport was required to attend the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to resolve the issues. The new ferry cost $5 million, and was put into service on 22 December 1993. On 12 October 2005, the
Australian Defence Force staged an anti-terrorism exercise on the MV
Queenscliff. Two
Black Hawk helicopters were used to fast rope members of the Tactical Assault Group onto the roof of the ferry, and members of the Boat Assault Force boarded the ferry from inflatable dinghies.
MV Sorrento docking at
Queenscliff Traffic using the ferry service continued to grow though the 1990s, carrying about 110,000 cars/trucks/coaches/motorcycles and 600,000 passengers each year. As a result, in 2000 it was decided to purchase a second ferry, enabling a doubling in the service frequency. The
MV Sorrento was built in
Launceston,
Tasmania,
Australia at a cost of $12 million, and was similar in size and appearance to the existing ferry. Minor differences between the two include an elevator from the car deck to the top deck, a new lounge at the front called the 'Portsea Lounge', and the number of exterior windows at the top would be in groups of three, not in fours. The increased frequency resulted in the closure of the
Queenscliff -
Portsea -
Sorrento passenger ferry service in the early 2000s. ==See also==