Tangi Utikere: Labour's Transport Spokesperson says new Interislander ferries will continue to cost more for taxpayers

The long awaited ferry announcement from the government came yesterday, however there's still plenty unanswered questions.

We'll get two new ferries, but the government hasn't said how much they will cost, or whether they will be rail-enabled.

It comes more than a year after the Finance Minister cancelled the previous governments plan to purchase two new ships for $550 million.

Labour's transport spokesperson Tangi Utikere says the announcement was underwhelming.

"What we've learned is that kiwis will have to wait longer for the ferries when they do arrive, it was meant to be 2026 under the former government, now we'll have to wait until at least 2029".

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
As a story on everybody's lips. It is the fairy.

(00:02):
The long awaited ferry announcement from the government came yesterday. However,
there's still plenty of unanswered questions. There are going to
be two new fairies, but the government won't say how
much they will cost or whether the rare fairies will
be rail enabled. A new Crown Company will be established
to have the new fairies ready to begin service by
twenty twenty nine. And Tonguey Ticketing joining to me right now.

(00:24):
He is a spokesperson for Transport and Labour's Chief Whip. Hello,
this is a Christmas gift for you, isn't it, Tongey?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Good morning Andrew. Well, I think this whole saga has
been ongoing and yesterday's announcement was extremely disappointing. It's rather underwhelming,
and this has been the sort of mainstay for Nicola
Allis since she's been in the Captain's chair around this
particular issue of the firies.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
What is underwhelming about this deal, Well, the issue is.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
That nothing really was announced Easter. That was an announcement
of an announcement. What we've learned is that Keywis will
need to wait longer for the fairies when they do arrive.
It was meant to be twenty twenty six under the
former government. Now we'll have to wait until at least
twenty twenty nine. There'll be smaller boats that are likely
to be rail enabled, which will have huge implications for

(01:12):
the main trunk line between the North and South Island
and fundamentally they will also end up costing much much more.
That is not a deal that kewis deserve.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Could you please explain the difference between rayant, rail enabled
and rail compatible and no rail at all. I mean,
what is the difference? Rail enabled is one roll on,
roll off or not?

Speaker 2 (01:36):
You know? Yeah, So rail enabled is what we currently
have within the Interryindo fleet for one of the three ferries,
and it means that basically freight can simply go on
a train straight onto the ship at one end and
then come straight off again at the other. Rail compatible
means that they have to basically offload the freight onto

(01:56):
another vehicle to get it onto the ferry and then
at the other end to do the same. So it
is a sense of double handling. Now that adds additional
cost to freight costs and who will carry that It'll
be the consumer that will carry it, but also the
additional time it's around about three an extra three hours
on a return journey to basically double handle, which will

(02:19):
mean that you know, the feries can't can't run as much.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Thank you, thank you. National says their project will be
cheaper than yours or the one that you were overseeing,
or the one that you were in charge of, or
my Keywi Rail was running the whole thing. Will they
have one if the project does come out cheaper.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Well, it won't come out cheaper. I mean, already there's
nearly half a billion dollars in sunk costs, the cancelation fee,
which will be upwards north of three hundred million. We
still don't know what that is, and they're still negotiating
that well into next year. The actual cost of the ferries.
On top of that, the additional increase and maintenance of
the fleet that now has to continue to run through
to twenty twenty nine, and then of course the portside

(02:58):
development which they're pushing that cost on to rate payers
and others. So this actual envelope will continue to skyrocket,
and they didn't give us any indication as to what
that final figure would look like. Yesterday as part of
then announcement.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Ever, tank You t kevy I, thank you so much
for your time today, tank You Utikeli chief Whip and
also Labour's transport spokesperson. And somebody saying, well, is that
a bias commentator. Yes, he's from labor that's his point
of view. We found out what Labour's point of view is.
We heard yesterday what National's point of view is, and
you're going to hear about everybody's point of view over
the course of the next day. That's called cabin seeing
all sides. That's called the media. That's called us story.

(03:34):
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