australia area served port phillip bay services passenger transportation freight transportation website www.searoad.com.au the mv sorrento heading towards queenscliff with the mv queenscliff in the distance heading towards sorrento on port phillip bay victoria searoad ferries formerly known as peninsula searoad transport is an australian company that operates a roll on roll off vehicle and passenger ferry service between the heads of port phillip near melbourne victoria australia . the route operates between terminals at queenscliff on the bellarine peninsula and sorrento on the mornington peninsula . it is serviced by two ships currently the mv queenscliff and the mv sorrento . dolphins are often seen following the ferries during their crossing . 1 the ferry service runs every hour during the day and makes a crossing in approximately 40 minutes . the single journey cost for a car and driver is a 62 2 with an additional charge for passengers . the alternative drive from queenscliff to sorrento via road is approximately four hours . contents 1 history 1.1 peninsula princess 1.2 mv queenscliff 1.3 mv sorrento 2 see also 3 references 4 external links history edit 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 . 3 peninsula princess edit the peninsula princess in 2008 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 . 4 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 4 but the berths specially designed for this vessel 5 at queenscliff and sorrento were not yet complete . on 13 september 1987 she entered service . citation needed 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 . 4 a few weeks later during low tide at queenscliff the crew encountered problems because of the depth of the water and the strong winds . as one of the deckhands attempted to take control by winching the boat in to its berth the rope slipped and jumped and he was thrown to the deck . by the time he attempted to regain his footing the peninsula princess had been taken hold of by the wind . she was thrown against the edge of the creek and broke a propeller and had a bent shaft . the ferry had to be dry docked for repairs . the business had financial issues and could not afford for this to happen again . citation needed after the new ferry was introduced the peninsula princess was frequently docked at the former queenscliff ferry berth . in 2004 the ferry was sighted docked in the tamar river in launceston tasmania . 6 mv queenscliff edit main article mv queenscliff 1992 ferry terminal at 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 . 7 the new ferry cost 5 million and was put into service on 22 december 1993 . 8 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 . 9 mv sorrento edit main article mv sorrento 2001 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 . 3 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 edit list of australian ferries port phillip bay bridge references edit the mv queenscliff docked in queenscliff hale report interactions between vessels and dolphins in port phillip bay pdf . department of sustainability and environment victoria . retrieved 2007 07 26 . dead link searoad ferries fares . retrieved 14 november 2014 . a b deputy premier launches 12 million queenscliff to sorrento ferry . media release . office of the premier . april 2001 . retrieved 2007 07 26 . a b c peninsular stamp club 1987 notes on the inauguration of the peninsular princess car passenger ferry queenscliff and sorrento roll on roll off ferry terminals . burchill vdm . retrieved 2007 07 26 . member for flinders liz penfold mp parliamentary travel report king island tasmania melbourne . 16 29 april 2004 . retrieved 2007 07 26 . queenscliff to sorrento ferry . office of the minister for planning . 4 february 1993 . archived from the original on 27 september 2007 . retrieved 2007 07 26 . premier launches new bay ferry service . media release . office of the premier . 22 december 1993 . archived from the original on 30 september 2007 . retrieved 2007 07 26 . exercise mars anchor and exercise mercury . adf . 20 october 2005 . retrieved 2007 07 26 . external links edit peninsula searoad ferry v t e ferries of australia individual ferries abel tasman australian trader balgowlah baragoola barrenjoey bellubera brighton burra bra collaroy devil cat empress of australia freshwater herald island seaway kanangra kara kara karatta karrabee kooleen koompartoo kooroongaba kuramia kuttabul lady cutler lady denman manly iii narabeen peninsula princess phillip penda princess of tasmania queenscliff 1983 queenscliff 1992 sealion 2000 shelley taylor smith sorrento south steyne spirit of kangaroo island spirit of tasmania spirit of tasmania i spirit of tasmania ii spirit of tasmania iii sydney 2000 troubridge ferry classes sydney dee why sydney first fleet sydney hydrofoil sydney jetcat sydney lady sydney rivercat sydney supercat ferry operators bass & flinders cruises harbour city ferries newcastle buses & ferries sealink travel group including captain cook cruises captain cook cruises wa . kangaroo island sealink & matilda cruises searoad ferries transdev brisbane ferries transperth tt line former ferry operators australian national line brisbane city council port jackson & manly steamship company public transport commission state transit authority sydney ferries sydney ferries limited sydney harbour transport board transit systems urban transit authority retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title searoad ferries & oldid 737174397 categories ferry companies of victoria australia transport in geelongport phillipbellarine peninsulamornington peninsulahidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from april 2009use dmy dates from june 2015use australian english from june 2015all wikipedia articles written in australian englishall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from august 2007 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 1 september 2016 at 04 49 . text 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