NEW ZEALAND’s deputy prime minister and NZ First party leader Winston Peters has declared he has no faith in KiwiRail’s assessment of its own Cook Strait ferries and sees no reason why they can’t stay in service for another two decades.
Addressing his party’s weekend conference in Hamilton Mr Peters – who has made clear his view replacement ferries must retain rail capability – made clear his disagreement with KiwiRail and its advisers that the three existing ships would be exhausted by 2029.
“I don’t believe KiwiRail on that matter and when I was the minister, I got rid of all that myth-talking as well.
“When they finally leave the so-called life that you’re talking about, they’ll probably go off and work 20 more years somewhere else in the world.
“It comes down to upping the calibre and capability of maintenance.”
The two ro-paxes and one rail/ro-pax were due to be replaced by two larger newbuild Rail/ro-paxes in 2025-26 until the incoming National government nixed the project last December over project cost over-runs for required new terminals. An independent Ministerial Advisory Group, appointed to make alternative recommendations, handed its report to government in June but the report has not been made public and the government has made no decisions.
Mr Peters wouldn’t speculate on the decision-making process of the government of which he is a part, saying that rested with finance minister Nicola Willis who also made the cancellation decision.
Meanwhile it was revealed late last week that KiwiRail was seeking to make around 50 Interisland Line staff redundant, mostly amongst seagoing personnel.
Separately, InterIslander rival Bluebridge, whose ro-pax Connemara broke down outside Wellington on 29 September and drifted powerless until rescued by tugs, has endured more problems with the vessel. Last 8 October the ship’s stern contacted it berth in Picton, dislodging a fender, when arriving in high winds.
On Saturday [12 October] Connemara lost power in one engine in Wellington Harbour and was forced to drop anchor and seek tug assistance, although the issue was quickly resolved. Nevertheless a freight-only sailing last night [13 October] was cancelled due to ‘engineering issues’.
The repeated problems with Interislander and Bluebridge ferries last week led to CentrePort Wellington and the Greater Wellington Regional Council to warn the NZ Government the port is not equipped to be “a 24/7 marine emergency first responder” and better marine rescue arrangements are urgently required.
The government allocated NZ$600,000 in its recent budget for an investigation of the feasibility of providing a salvage tug for the country.
