Carl Findlay: Maritime Union Secretary on the potential delays and cost blowouts to the Cook Strait ferry replacement programme

A union says the taxpayer pays the price for any cost blowout to the Cook Strait ferry replacement programme.  

A Treasury review last year found “back-to-front” planning and decaying port infrastructure's left the project exposed to delays and higher costs.  

Maritime Union Secretary Carl Findlay told Ryan Bridge Ferry Holdings was set up to sort all of this out.  

He says they should've pulled together the Port of Wellington and Picton, both councils, and KiwiRail so they're all on the same page. 

Findlay says they’ve known about these issues for several years, and from his understanding, nothing’s been done at either port to accommodate the ferries. 

Ferry Holdings says the groups planning shows costs are within the allocated budget.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Winston's cook straight fairies are being whacked with a high
risk Amber alert from Treasury warning there could be more
cost blowouts delays because of back to front planning and
some of the landside infrastructure they thought they could reuse
can't be reused in fact. Carl Findlay, as Maritime Union Secretory,
joins US Live this morning, Get a.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Carl here, good morning, How are you very well?

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Thank you? What sort of infrastructure are we talking about
that's been degraded to the point it can't be used
in the way they thought it could be.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Well, it's nothing new to us. I mean this was
reported back in my opinion Wallace made the silly decision
to scrap the IRIS project and so we're siding back
then the infrastructure issues in the cost blow out there.
So you know, it's a real surprise to me now
that the Treasury are jumping up and down almost three

(00:51):
years later, still citing the same problem, but understanding there
hasn't been anything done the Port of Littleton, sorry not Littleton,
Wellington or Picton in preparation for these ferries that Winston
sorted out to bring down.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
In Ferry Holdings Limited have come out and said they've
done extensive due diligence. We will reuse the rail and
road marshaling yards, we will reuse the existing buildings, but
we need new link spans for both ports that you've
talked about. What are link spans? And you know how
important are they?

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Well, the very importantnes is key piece of infrastructure for
our rail enabled fairies to get our cargo are running
between the two islands. But the problem I have with
what ferry holdings are. You know they were set up
to sort all this out, so why haven't they pulled
together the Port of Wellington, the Port of Picton, the

(01:50):
Council of Wellington, the Council of Picton and pulled k
Allen and sort of this all out so that they're
all working off the same page. It doesn't seem to
be any communication there. And yet you know again it's
the taxpayer and the workers in particular that they're paying
the price here for you know this this bloody carry

(02:12):
on that we're all sick of.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
Hey, In terms of the deadline, so twenty twenty nine
is the deadline and Treasury's gone to them and said
you need to come up with a back up a
plan B. What what could that look like, how could
we keep sailing if we don't have the landside done?
The old ferries are out of action.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
What do we do well exactly, there's someone sitting in
the background looking at the Gracie Brothers with a project
that they're looking at and Campbell Bay I believe it's
called and they're they're sitting out there and they're they're
they're waiting there to go so and that's on the

(02:52):
South Island side. So yeah, other than that, I'm not
sure what else we can do it just once what
sim needs to get them hear it and bang all
the group said together again and make them get a
deal done.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Appreciate your transforming Calvin LA Maritime Union secretary.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
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