Tasmanian Spirits into Geelong

Most Australians will come from the west or north.
Anything is better than going to Melbourne.

I'm not far from you GarryR so we are similarly impacted. We have family in Tas and travel down there a bit and yes it will be an inconvenience for us too. It has always been apparent to me though that Melbourne doesn't cater for passenger sea traffic. We have done 2 or 3 cruises including to some third world ports and it embarrasses me when I look at our port facilities by comparison. We were boarding the Spirit a couple of years ago on a day sailing and it was absolute chaos on the surrounding streets at 6.00am as the arriving vehicles fought the boarding vehicles for positions. To complicate matters all boarding had to stop as the Queen Mary attempted to dock and the passengers coming ashore became caught up in the confusion. I wondered what these people must have been thinking as their first impressions of Australia's second largest city. There were tour guides, buses, cabs, collecting the tourists and mixing it with the cars, caravans and semis trying to board.
As I understand it the Spirit operators couldn't agree on terms (read costs) with the port authorities so accepted a tender from Geelong where there will be facilities specific to the Spirit's requirements apparently. This forum is peppered with requests from non Vic travellers on how to get to the boat and where to stay before boarding etc. Perhaps Geelong will better be able to cater for the travellers arriving ahead of sailing and arriving vehicles can avoid the early morning traffic around the city / toll roads etc as they start their travels north.
I also understand that the TT Line is heavily subsidised by the Tas government so cost savings achieved by going to Geelong will offset the inconvenience and costs people like us will experience by travelling down there.
Incidentally I hear your pain with the tolls for your ute. It doesn't impact me but it is a crazy situation.

Certainly there will be some inconvenience for those in parts of Melbourne, but the further east you go the Queenscliff option becomes more viable - that's how we go to and from our son on the Mornington Peninsula, rather than battling though the Melbourne traffic.
I think on balance this change will be a benefit for the vast majority of Tasmanians travelling north, and people from all Australian states heading south, with the exception of a share of urban Victorians.
At least we will have a decent, purpose built terminal and (importantly for Tasmania) a modern and efficient freight centre.
All of which is academic right now, because we can't travel anywhere :-(

Mark C9 - I am not sure that the freight benefits will be all that significant. I would have thought Geelong is less accessible for the trucks coming from the north and east than the docks in Melbourne are. The port isn't far from the major arterials. The extra 70ks each way after exiting the Hume (if they are coming from the north) compared to Port Melbourne is lost time for them and they still need to negotiate some of the Melbourne traffic (Western Ring Road etc) before exiting to the Geelong Freeway. There is also a significant manufacturing and supply network in the industrial suburbs to the east of the port. As GarryR rightly mentioned a large percentage of Melbourne's population is east of the city. TT Line earns $146m from passenger ferrying and $96m from freight according to its annual report.
The benefits to Tas from we travelling nomads on the Spirit as you say is the state's bread n butter and thats why our cars are subsidised on the ferry.

Kennel, trucks will come round the ring road and avoid heaps of congestion

I agree Wildmax that is the obvious route for north incoming traffic but when you combine the traffic on the ring road with the Geelong Freeway (depending on time of day) and 70 kms each way extra travel it will exceed the congestion time loss I reckon. Don't get me wrong I am actually an advocate for the change despite my personal inconvenience. My main point is that TT Line is primarily a passenger / tourist business and freight is secondary. For tourism travellers I think it will be a significant improvement and will particularly avert the mess around Station Pier when the tourist boats come in.

Corio terminal will be just on Melb side of Geelong, so travellers don't have to go thru Geeling CBD.
And agree Jihn, overnight parking is a good idea