Government's ferry plan timeframes too long, road freight lobby group says

The government's plan for the Interislander ferries is disappointingly light on detail and gives freight operators little certainty, road freight lobby group Transporting NZ says.

The government announced on Wednesday that it was setting up a Crown-owned company to buy two new ferries - and had appointed Minister Winston Peters to oversee it.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis said while negotiations were underway, the project cost was commercially confidential, but it was "expected to be much less" than Labour's $3 billion iRex project, which was scrapped a year ago when the government came to power.

She said planning and procurement was expected to be done by March next year, and the new ferries would be in operation in 2029 - a timeframe slammed by the NZ Council of Trade Unions.

Ia Ira Aotearoa / Transporting NZ chief executive Dom Kalasih said he was disappointed by the announcement.

"Frankly, a year on from the cancellation (of the iReX project), we really expected much more progress to have been made, in terms of procurement of the vessels and detail on that portside infrastructure.

"So yeah, a little disappointed."

While he praised the chance for the private sector to offer an alternative Cook Strait ferry service, and was also pleased at the establishment of Crown-owned company to buy the vessels - which "should allow KiwiRail to focus on maintenance" - he questioned the timeframes.

"I'm a little surprised that after a year, they've come back and said, 'We'll set up this government company,' and then it'll take three months to see the procurement.

"It seems a little arse-about-face in terms of the time and what decisions get made."

Booth's Logistics chief executive Dallas Vince told Checkpoint his company had anticipated that the announcement "wouldn't be much more than a place holder".

"They've told us they're going to put together a group and that's going to talk to perhaps industry around privatisation of it or you know what the options really are, but we're none the wiser and it's going to be status quo for the next five years, we've got the reliability, or in some cases lack of, between now and then."

The freight firm has become accustomed to managing the unreliability of crossing the Cook Strait, he said.

The government needed to commit to providing the vessels and politically there needed to be cross party agreement to ensure the deal was not scuppered again, he said.

Booth's Logistics trucks had crossed the Cook Strait on the ferries about 95 times this week shipping about 5500 tonnes of freight both ways, he said.

It was vital that the ships sailed morning and evening, he said.

"We've got produce on these trucks that have got to hit aeroplanes in Auckland every day and get exports out of the country, so there are a lot of people in the supply chain reliant on that bit of Strait."

Vince said the ferries had not been reliable during the last 18 months and he was not confident that they would be able to get through the next five years without similar issues.

NZCTU acting president Rachel Mackintosh said despite a year having elapsed, there was still no coherent plan to replace the ageing Interislander fleet.

"We have no information on where replacement ferries are coming from, how much they will cost, who will pay for them, or how the port infrastructure will be delivered."

She said the previous scheme had contracts for ships to arrive in 2026 - three years earlier than the new proposal, which she called "a plan to have a plan".

Rail Advocacy Collective chairperson Guy Wellword said he was "underwhelmed" by the ferry replacement plan and concerned that neither the finance minister nor the new rail minister would confirm the new ferries' rail capability.

"Both were vague about absolutes - refusing to openly discuss costs or whether the ships will be rail-enabled."

Wellword said rail capability was essential for the smooth transfer of freight between the islands, and was pinning his hopes on Minister Peters to deliver it.

"He's done his best and tried hard in the past, and New Zealand First is certainly more interested in promoting rail transport than either of the [other] coalition partners."

Praise for the new ferry replacement plan

Meanwhile, Infrastructure New Zealand has said although the government's plan was "lacking in detail", its consideration of a private sector option in ferry procurement and Cook Strait services, was a "good way forward".

INZ chief executive Nick Leggett said cancelling the iRex project was a good move "given the spiralling costs", adding the new plan would ensure the timing of the replacement ferries and port infrastructure were aligned.

KiwiRail also praised announcement to buy two brand new ships, noting that rail-enabled was still an option.

KiwiRail chief executive Paul Reidy said he was confident that if the new ships were not rail-enabled, KiwiRail would still be able to move freight efficiently between the islands.