logo
Decommissioning Of The Aratere Ferry

Decommissioning Of The Aratere Ferry

Scoop30-04-2025
Press Release – Ferry Holdings Limited
The removal of this berth will mean that the Aratere ferry will no longer be able to deliver services across the Cook Strait. The construction of temporary port infrastructure for the Aratere is not part of the Ferry Holdings work programme.
Following the announcements made by the Minister of Rail on 31 March 2025, Ferry Holdings Limited has initiated discussions with KiwiRail, Port Marlborough New Zealand Limited and CentrePort Limited to understand the infrastructure required to meet the Ministers deadline of 2029 for the new Cook Strait ferries to enter operations.
To deliver this programme of work, Ferry Holdings is engaging with Port Marlborough and CentrePort to agree detailed port infrastructure plans in quarter 4, 2028. As part of this process work is required to decommission and/or demolition of the Aratere berth.
Port Marlborough has advised that the demolition of the Aratere berth is a critical first step to meet the required port infrastructure requirements ahead of the commissioning of the new ferries in 2029.
The removal of this berth will mean that the Aratere ferry will no longer be able to deliver services across the Cook Strait.
The construction of temporary port infrastructure for the Aratere is not part of the Ferry Holdings work programme.
We will continue working closely with both ports to finalise the specifications of the infrastructure required.
The ongoing delivery of Cook Strait ferry services provided by KiwiRail is a commercial decision and they will work to manage this with the demand for freight and passenger services.
Ferry Holdings Limited Background:
• The Government is committed to safe, reliable and affordable Cook Strait ferry services. In March 2025, the Minister for Rail announced plans for the procurement of two new ferries that will serve people, cars, trucks, and rail across the Cook Strait, as well as straightforward infrastructure in Wellington and Picton which maximise reuse and minimise cost.
• In December 2023, the Government cancelled Project iReX which sought to replace the Interislander ferries and upgrade the infrastructure. The costs for this Project had grown substantially to $3.1 billion and was forecast to go to $4.0 billion. The Government has established Ferry Holdings to deliver a markedly cheaper deal for taxpayers by 2029.
• Ferry Holdings was incorporated in March 2025 to lead from 1 April 2025 the contractual negotiations with shipyards, ports, and any other party required to deliver safe, reliable and affordable inter-island asset replacements to serve the future.
• Ferry Holdings is responsible for entering commercial shipyard procurement contracts and port agreements on infrastructure with CentrePort Wellington Limited (CentrePort Wellington), Port Marlborough New Zealand Limited (Port Marlborough) and any other party to enable the affordable delivery of ferries to enter service in 2029. Affordable means markedly cheaper than the cancelled Project iReX.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Dunne's Weekly: A Tale Of Two Ferries
Dunne's Weekly: A Tale Of Two Ferries

Scoop

time6 days ago

  • Scoop

Dunne's Weekly: A Tale Of Two Ferries

In March this year, Straits Shipping, operators of the Bluebridge Cook Strait ferries, announced the purchase of a new ferry. The nearly 28,000 tonne Livia, built in 2008, was bought to replace the 28 year-old Strait Feronia, in service with Bluebridge since 2015. The Livia arrived in Wellington earlier this month and began service on the Cook Strait run this week. No terminal renovations have been required in either Picton or Wellington to accommodate the Livia, which will carry around 375 passengers and 200 cars. Morgan Stanley Infrastructure, owners of Straits Shipping since 2022, have not disclosed the Livia's purchase price nor how long the purchase negotiations took. In sharp contrast to Bluebridge's apparent time-frame for replacing the Strait Feronia, back in 2018 the then Labour/New Zealand First coalition government launched the IREX project to replace the publicly owned Interislander line's three aging ferries. Three years later, in June 2021, Kiwirail, the operator of the Interislander ferries, signed a contract with Korea's Hyundai Mipo shipyards to build two new rail enabled ferries. They were projected to enter service in 2026. The cost of the project was estimated to be $1.45 billion. But just over two years later, by the time the current National/Act/New Zealand First coalition had taken office, the project's cost had more than doubled to $3.1 billion. There were estimates the cost could even climb as high as $4 billion by the time the ships were delivered. However, the massive explosion in costs was not related to the ships - their cost remained relatively static - but in the costs of upgrading shoreside facilities on both sides of Cook Strait to accommodate the new ferries. It was therefore no real surprise that the new government cancelled the project and went back to the drawing board, looking for a "Toyota Corolla rather than a Rolls Royce solution" as Finance Minister Nicola Willis said at the time. Earlier this year, the government announced a revised programme for building two new rail-enabled ferries to be in service by 2029, with substantially pared back shoreside facilities. As part of the plan, the trouble-plagued 26 year-old Aratere will be withdrawn in a few weeks. Its withdrawal will mean there will be no rail-enabled ferries on Cook Strait, until the new ships arrive in 2029. By that time, the Interislander's two remaining ferries, Kaiārahi and Kaitaki, will be 31 and 34 years old respectively. They will be long overdue for replacement - only the Tamāhine has served longer on the Cook Strait route, from 1925 to 1962. And, in sharp to contrast to Bluebridge, Interislander's ferry replacement programme will have taken just over eleven years, assuming no further delays. Also by 2029, Bluebridge's other ferry, the 500 passenger, 200 car, Connemara, will be coming up for replacement. But even then it will still be younger than Interislander's ferries are today. Bluebridge and the Interislander have an almost equal share of the Cook Strait passenger and vehicle traffic. Together, they are a vital transport link between the North and South Islands. It is in the interests of both the travelling public and the freight and transport industries that they provide a safe and reliable service across Cook Strait. Yet both have had their share of incidents with their ships in recent years, raising concerns about the age and resilience of the ferries. Given this concern, and the lengthy nature of Interislander's current ferry replacement programme, there must inevitably be questions about the durability of the Cook Strait service until the new ferries arrive in 2029. While Bluebridge has future-proofed its operation, at least for the medium-term, by the acquisition of the Livia at the mid-point of its life, the same cannot confidently be said for the Interislander. Kaitaki and Kaiarahi are already old ships, with the prospect of at least four to five years more service, without major incident, ahead of them. That is a bold assumption. Whereas Interislander's keenness to buy new ferries for the first time since the building of Aratere in 1999 is understandable, it stands in sharp contrast to Bluebridge's strategy of purchasing mid-life ships and turning them over every decade or so. With the cost blow-outs associated with the original IREX project and the delays associated with the refocusing of the ferry replacement programme, taxpayers might be forgiven for wondering whether the more short-term approach of Bluebridge has greater merit. Livia's first Cook Strait crossing this week, just a couple of weeks after arriving in New Zealand, and just over four months after its purchase, will add fuel to that question.

Scores ignore rain to welcome new Bluebridge ferry
Scores ignore rain to welcome new Bluebridge ferry

RNZ News

time02-07-2025

  • RNZ News

Scores ignore rain to welcome new Bluebridge ferry

Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Scores of people braved the rain in Wellington this morning to welcome a new Cook Strait ferry. StraitNZ Bluebridge's new Cook Strait ferry Livia arrived at Oriental Bay shortly before 9am on Thursday. The vessel left Denmark six weeks ago, travelling to New Zealand via Portsmouth in the United Kingdom and the Panama Canal. StraitNZ chief executive Shane McMahon said it was smooth sailing for the ferry as it made its way across two oceans to New Zealand. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Previously sailing between Germany and Latvia, the Livia is a sister ship to StraitNZ's Connemara , which began service on Cook Strait in 2023. The ferry which began sailing in 2008 will carry 500 passengers and include an extra deck for freight compared to the Strait Feronia which it will replace. Strait Feronia was built in 1997 and was able to carry 400 passengers. McMahon said the Livia would increase the operator's capacity by 10 percent. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Bluebridge's acquisition of the ferry marked a significant next step in the company's ongoing investment in Cook Strait infrastructure and capacity. " Livia delivers an increase in both freight and passenger capacity, and we're very pleased to have secured a vessel of this quality and suitability for Cook Strait conditions." The company currently holds 50 percent of the Cook Strait freight market and almost 40 percent of the passenger market. Its competitor, the Interislander , which is owned by KiwiRail, currently has three Cook Strait ferries to Bluebridge's two, but will be retiring its Aratere ferry later this year. It was not expected to replace the rest of its ageing fleet until new ships were delivered in 2029. Over the next 20 days a number of procedural and safety aspects would take place for the Livia, including audits and the crew familiarising themselves with the ship. Its first sailing is expected to be on 23 July. Meanwhile, at least 100 people huddled in the rain along Oriental Bay this morning, waiting to catch a glimpse of the new ship as it was escorted into the harbour by tugs. Among them was Amy who had travelled by train from Lower Hutt. Susan Rosa and Pepi, who were also among the crowd, travel across the Cook Strait at least once a year and hoped to sail on the Livia on one of their future trips. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

Dublin St overbridge confirmed in post-iReX Picton plans
Dublin St overbridge confirmed in post-iReX Picton plans

1News

time02-07-2025

  • 1News

Dublin St overbridge confirmed in post-iReX Picton plans

A port infrastructure upgrade in Picton to accommodate new ferries will include building a Dublin St overbridge, Rail Minister Winston Peters confirmed on Tuesday. He was in the port town to announce that Ferry Holdings has reached an agreement with CentrePort, Port Marlborough and KiwiRail on the core infrastructure scope for the new Interislander ferries, covering the physical work and equipment to be delivered by 2029. The Dublin St overbridge was a feature of the previous ferry project iReX, and work had already started on the site when the project was scrapped at the end of 2023. The intersection had to be put back to normal in 2024 to restore the road connection to central Picton. On Tuesday, Peters said the overbridge was necessary to rid the town of the blocked streets it would experience when freight-laden trains arrived at the port. 'This road takes 33% of the passengers from both ferry operators, but it's blocked when long trains arrive in Picton or shunting movements take place in the in the rail yard,' he said. ADVERTISEMENT 'This impacts tourists visiting New Zealand and locals alike. 'Trains will get longer and busier in the future, so we must address this problem.' Rail Minister Winston Peters announces new infrastructure for Port Marlborough in Picton on Tuesday. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting) Peters said the overbridge, which would be funded by KiwiRail, would be ready by 2029, and would be built with minimal disruption to the community. 'The teams at Ferry Holdings, CentrePort, Port Marlborough and KiwiRail are doing an outstanding job in the service of the taxpayer, and we thank them for it.' Mayor Nadine Taylor welcomed the announcement as the overbridge had been requested by the community since the scrapped iReX project. 'I'm feeling really pleased and really relieved. It's great to have it confirmed, both for Picton and for the community,' Taylor said. ADVERTISEMENT 'We always knew it was needed with the new ferries ... and it's wonderful to have the minister come down here on site to Picton and confirm to the council and to the community that it is going to happen.' Mayor Nadine Taylor says she is pleased by the announcement of an overbridge for Picton's Dublin St. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting) Congestion was a critical issue, both for the general public but also emergency services, she said. 'You cannot have a town where you can't have emergency services easily access both sides of the town. 'The overbridge will take away all of that risk. 'It really is a fantastic future-proofing piece of infrastructure for the town of Picton.' Taylor was at Peters' announcement at the Marlborough Port offices on Tuesday, along with Port Marlborough chairperson Warren McNabb, and Ferry Holdings chairperson Chris Mackenzie. ADVERTISEMENT The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including Australia's weather bomb, the surprising costs of getting one more dog, and BTS are back. (Source: 1News) Peters said port and KiwiRail agreements would be entered later this year to confirm the investment splits between Ferry Holdings and each other company and other commercial terms. 'This is not our first regatta, as this no-nonsense infrastructure focus is what was supposed to happen in 2020, until poor management and a lack of oversight allowed iReX to blow out,' he said. 'We will save the taxpayer billions through our disciplined approach. 'The agreements entered into effectively mean the ports and KiwiRail are in, boots and all, with Cabinet's preferred low-cost option.' The current Interislander terminal, built as a temporary option, will become the permanent terminal. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting) Another major component of the Picton infrastructure included the reuse of passenger and commercial vehicle facilities, as well as the terminal building. ADVERTISEMENT The Interislander's current terminal building, built as a temporary option after the old terminal building was demolished in 2024, would become the permanent terminal. 'iReX was going to build a Taj Mahal terminal building here in Picton, and a Sydney Opera House in Wellington,' Peters said. 'We are keeping [the] existing buildings in contrast, as all passengers need is a warm, dry spot to wait with their luggage, especially when the vast majority wait in their own vehicle, not the building.' Peters said the pre-fab structure would serve as the terminal building for the next 60 years. 'A whole lot of people, more practical, more clever, more smart, who took this country to be number one in the world ... decided it was the best option, and I agree with them.' Peters said there could need to be additional works performed on the terminal building to make it permanent. By Kira Carrington, Local Democracy Reporter ADVERTISEMENT LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store