Bluebridge ferry owner StraitNZ up for sale by Morgan Stanley, Australian media reports

Wednesday, 19 November 2025

Bluebridge ferry Livia sailing to the docks in Wellington.

Australian media has reported Morgan Stanley intends to sell StraitNZ, the company which owns Bluebridge, the Cook Strait ferry operator.

The Australian newspaper has reported Morgan Stanley Infrastructure is believed to be lining up a sale.

Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s infrastructure arm bought StraitNZ in January 2022 for a reported $500 million from Australian investor CPE Capital, which had owned it for only five years.

Bluebridge, which has been operating in Cook Strait for 32 years, is just one part of StraitNZ, which also has freight forwarding and trucking businesses. In March this year, Bluebridge acquired the Stena Livia, to replace the Feronia, and to run alongside the Connemara, which began service on Cook Strait in 2023.

The new ship provided a 10% increase in vehicle capacity and increased Bluebridge passenger capacity. Overall, Bluebridge holds 50% of the Cook Strait freight market and more than 30% of the passenger market.

A StraitNZ spokesperson said the company “did not comment on speculation”.

Livia leaving drydock in Fayard, Odense in Denmark.

The Australian reported that Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners had called for requests for proposals from investment bankers to sell the business, and it hoped to get as much as NZ$1 billion for it.

StraitNZ is owned by Morgan Stanley through a series of companies, including Burgundy Holdco, which is 100% owned by Holland’s Terral Holding BV.

Its latest financial statements for the 12 months to March show the group earned $268 million in revenue, and made an after-tax loss of $2.26m down from a profit of $19.63m in the previous year.

Bluebridge has been in the news in the past 12 months for the purchase of the Livia, and for mechanical issues with its other ship the Connemara.

StraitNZ competes with KiwiRail’s Interislander ferry service.