Dumping of ferry project disappoints Wellingtonians

Friday, 15 December 2023

A walk around the city on Thursday found many Wellington residents are disappointed the iRex ferry project has been scrapped.

Along the waterfront, many said they had used the ferry recently or were booked on to it for the summer. For them, there was a sadness hearing that the new Interislander ferries had the plug pulled on them.

Ralph Chapman was an annual user of the ferry and thought the news made it appear KiwiRail was “poorly managed”.

“It seems they have gotten themselves into a commitment to a massive investment which may or may not be justified so I think Government has a responsibility to question that.

“Having said that, I'm not convinced that cancelling it in the way that Nicola Willis has done is the optimal strategy. It seems to be too abrupt and rushed before Christmas.”

Chapman was concerned by remarks by KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy that commercial investment would be considered to fill the funding gap.

“I would be concerned if the Interislander ferry was privatised or partially privatised. It's quite a major strategic asset and it's not obvious to me that it would be good to have the bridge between the islands held by a large private company.”

“They’re pretty rough” said Josh Bullen, who had used the ferries earlier this year.

“There’s all sorts of funny smells. I took my dog once and he ended up having a run around the car area and came back with diesel and stuff all over him that stained my clothes.

“This is the main connection between our islands and not being able to keep them up isn’t a good look for tourists.”

Originally designed to replace the Interislander’s ageing ferries, the project was cut by the new National-led Government over ballooning costs.

The original plan was for two new hybrid electric ferries and two new wharves to accommodate the much larger vessels.

The increasing cost of the project had already been signalled before it was axed, with Greater Wellington Regional Council chairperson Daran Ponter telling Transport Minister Simeon Brown that the project had “a billion dollar hole”.

The iRex project was conspicuously absent from National’s Transport For The Future document, despite Brown’s vocal criticism of the ferries during a slew of mechanical breakdowns in early 2023.

Gus Sousa was quite resigned to the ferry project cancellation and accepted that the Government had other priorities.

“They’re quite old and they’re really starting to show their age. But you know, that’s what we voted for. We accept that they have different priorities for these projects.”

The overall sentiment among people was that the ferries were showing their age and that something needed to be done.

While there were diverging thoughts on what that solution should be, plenty of others accepted that the ferry service was sub-standard and either minimised their travel to absolutely necessary or avoided it altogether.

In a statement, CentrePort chief executive Anthony Delaney gave an update on the status of the land, saying they had “removed redundant assets which allowed KiwiRail to move forwards with its new ferry development”.

“While the iRex project has stopped, the land where initial work was happening can still be used and will enable something when a new plan is confirmed.

“We want to work proactively to find a new solution for the Cook Strait connection.”