Chris Mckenzie: Ferry Holdings chair on the Government picking a shipyard to build the new Cook Strait ferries

Those in charge of buying our new Interislander ferries are confident a good deal has been reached. 

The yet-to-be-named preferred supplier has signed a letter of intent, and agreed with Ferry Holdings on a fixed price. 

Chair Chris Mckenzie says  they're now at the technical negotiation stage. 

"We now negotiate what's inside that boat - arrangements even down to what sort of sinks we have in the kitchens - and then a final contract will be signed before the end of the year." 

The 200-metre long ferries will have road and rail decks, and room for 1500 passengers each.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We've got progress on the cook straight ferries. The government
has chosen a shipyard to build them, but it's keeping
which one a secret. Chris mackenzie is the chair of
Ferry Holdings Limited, which is in charge of buying the fairies.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
And is with us.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
Hey, Chris, good afternoon.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hey congratulations. Are more negotiations to.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
Do though, Yes, this is a letter of intent which
means that we've identified the shipyard out of the six
that we're in that final group. We now enter into
a period of technical negotiations. So we've agreed to fixed
price for the boat. We now negotiate what's inside that boat,

(00:37):
you know, arrangements even down to what sort of sinks
we have in the kitchens and what have you, and
then a final contract will be signed for the building
before the end of the year.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Is it going to be rail enabled?

Speaker 3 (00:51):
It is. It is rail enabled, which means that a
shunting engine pushes wagons onto the ferry just as the ratary.
But if there's no rail wagons, particularly at holiday period,
then it's compatible and it can be used as a
ropax ferry, so it's flexible.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Have you got a deal? Do you reckon? It's a bargain.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
We have worked hard, We've put a lot of pressure
on a lot of people, both in ferry holdings and
the contractors and consultants we've had. We have got what
we consider to be the best deal that we could.
It is within the budget that the government has given us.
The Minister will say more on that. So I think

(01:43):
we have got the best bargain that we could at
this point in time.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
How long before we actually know all the details.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
The details will be known. I would suspect that the
Minister will like to make an announcement, probably towards end
of November, in December.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
We've got a process of six weeks now where our
people will be at whatever boatyard shipyard that we have chosen.
They will come back. The Board will then consider what
they bring back to us. We will then write a
report for ministers and the ministers will agree, at which
point there will then be a contact signed at the

(02:24):
shipyard and the Minister in the meantime we'll make whatever
announcements that he thinks is appropriate at the time.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Brilliant Chris, Thank you very much.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
That's actually not driven by us.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, okay, now look I know how that works. Thank
you very much, Chris, good luck with everything and well
done so far. Chris McKenzie, Chair of Ferry Holdings Limited.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
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