Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader

18 December 2014

Government Must Bring in the Experts to Sort Strait Ferries

New Zealand First is calling on the government to bring in maritime experts to sort out the Cook Strait ferries, including the ships, the management and command structure.

“KiwiRail will be bumbling through a series of disasters with at least two flawed ships, the Aratere and the Stena Alegra, and executives who only know how to operate a propaganda machine,” says New Zealand First Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“It’s time for a hands-on approach. The end goal must be a quality ferry service on a vital freight and passenger link.

“This is not the time for big egos, high paid executives and ministerial ineptitude – we want experts from the maritime industry who know how to get the best out of a shipping service.

“New chief executive Peter Reidy has been quick to defend his decision to charter the rust bucket Stena Alegra as a replacement for the purpose-built Arahura, which has given 31 years of reliable service.

“Mr Reidy says the Stena has already performed pretty well doing 88 per cent of her scheduled sailings. His comments will make him a laughing stock of the maritime industry.

“The Stena is not a rail freight ferry, so KiwiRail is stuck with double handling to get the rail freight on board.

“The ship is seriously flawed and as well as chewing through more lubricant than the other ferries combined, it has caused severe noise problems in Picton.

“The Aratere has had so much time out of service the loss of revenue was cited by KiwiRail as a reason for its $248 million loss announced in June, up from the previous year.

“Not only were sailings cancelled yesterday we have been told Aratere is only making limited crossings during the holiday rush. Meanwhile, reliable old Arahura has been busting her gut keeping to a schedule of six crossings a day,” says Mr Peters.

ENDS

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