New Zealand to the back of the queue for new Cook Strait ferries

Monday, 24 June 2024

New Zealand’s resurrected enthusiasm for new Cook Strait ferries is expected to put it to the back of a long queue at a time the last planned ships could have been under construction.

Cook Strait Interislander ferry the Aratere ploughed into a beach near Picton on Friday night after a steering system mishap saw the 17,816 tonne ship, with 47 people aboard, take an unexpected right turn.

Pete Beech from the Guardians of the Sounds said it was “only a matter of time” before incidents occurred with the ageing fleet of KiwiRail’s Interislander ships.

The government in December cancelled an order for two new ferries, which would have been getting built now, due to a $2 billion budget blowout.

The beaching is the latest in a litany of Interislander problems – the worst of which was when the Kaitaki lost all power in January, 2023, and was driven towards the rocky Wellington south coast with 864 people aboard before anchors held.

When the Aratere beached it was already having to take a longer but safer route into the Marlborough Sounds due to a gearbox issue. On the day of the beaching, Interislander emailed commercial customers about a steering upgrade “not without its challenges with plenty of unknowns”.

Amid all the turmoil, KiwiRail board chairperson David McLean on Sunday announced his early retirement which Finance Minister Nicola Willis said was “unrelated” to the Aratere incident.

But over the weekend, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced that “the government has ensured funding is available to purchase new ships” while Willis said there was a $7.5 billion “multi-year capital allowance” that new ferry funding would come from. She confirmed the government would get newly-built ferries.

“Obviously, the ferries will cost a lot less than that,” she said.

On Sunday afternoon Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the Government was committed to getting new ferries for the Cook Strait, but he wouldn't commit to having that done by 2027.

Cabinet was yet to decide how many new ferries it would get to replace the three-ferry Interislander fleet.

Shipping Federation executive director John Harbord estimated the earliest new ferries could be plying the Cook Strait was three to four years.

There was hot global competition for new ships meaning a new ferry could take up to two years before construction began, then about two more years to build, test, and get ready for service.

Even buying used was hard with high global demand, he said.

Green Party transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter said cancelling the previous ship contract, which could have been revised, “set us back years”. Hoping to get through years with the current, ageing fleet was “very risky” and a result of “reckless decisions”.

The original planned new ferries would have been under construction now if the government had not cancelled the order, she said.

Wellington harbour master Grant Nalder believed three to four years was an optimistic time frame for new ferries, meaning the existing ferries would need to be treated carefully to make sure they could run safely.

“I would expect more down time, more maintenance, and reduced operating conditions [such as not running on rough days] just to look after them,” he said.

Greater Wellington Regional Council transport committee chairperson Thomas Nash said it was good the money had been set aside money for new ferries.

“They really need to get on with it now because the existing ferries are quite obviously reaching end of life,” he said.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson Connor Molloy said the Government should sell the Interislander service rather than invest more money into it.

“This government was elected to make the tough but necessary decisions to sort out the country’s finances. Instead they are simply doing the same as before but promising to manage it better.”

Interislander general manager Duncan Roy said it was unknown how long the Aratere would be out of service. The ship’s new steering system was “signed off by the manufacturer and fully operational prior to Aratere returning to the run”. Damage was “minimal” from the impact, he said.

Maritime NZ, the Transport Accident Investigation Commission, and KiwiRail are investigating the incident.