The importance of Cook Straight’s ferries has been highlighted in briefings and reports I have had this month from South Island Regional Transport Chairs, the Nelson Regional Development Agency and the Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce.
These ferries facilitate $1.6 billion of trade and visitor activity in Nelson-Tasman each year. The two-way freight component carried by the ferries is worth $1.2 billion each year. This is comprised of Nelson-Tasman goods worth $551m sent to the North Island and $658m of value that comes south as business inputs and consumer goods.
The ferries are also critical to our visitor industry. Ferry users make up 37.4% of Nelson-Tasman’s visitor spend, or $376m a year. It is significant that 48.5% of our international visitors use the ferry and their spend is worth $251m a year to the region.
The problem is the increasing unreliability of the aged Interislander fleet. The Aratere has been sent to India for scrap metal. The Kaitaki and Kaiārahi are 31 and 28 years old and the service has had to be cut to one ship through winter to enable maintenance.
Project iReX was announced in 2020 and consisted of two new giant 220m ferries to be built in South Korea. The project was cancelled in 2023 due to delays and a blowout in costs from $1.45 billion to over $3 billion. It failed because the time and expense of building new port facilities in Picton and Wellington was hugely underestimated.
A new company, Ferry Holdings Ltd, was established in 2025. Two 200m ferries, to be called Kupe and Cook, are being built in China for delivery in late 2029. This revised project requires less expensive port upgrades and is to cost $1.7 billion. There are opportunities for Nelson’s strong maritime sector to be involved in the project such as crew training, maintenance and new terminal construction.
Nelson’s interests are not only with the Interislander. Taxpayer subsidies can undermine the healthy competition from the Bluebridge ferries and distort freight flows through Port Nelson. A modern, reliable and price-competitive ferry connection is vital for our region’s future prosperity.
