Concerns on Wellington ferry terminal upgrade

The Mari­time Uni­on is con­cerned about reports the Inter­is­lander ferry ter­min­al upgrades in Wel­ling­ton and Pic­ton may be scaled back.

Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Craig Har­ris­on says the pro­ject is on track to deliv­er, and any mess­ing with plans at this stage would be an error.

He says while there is an issue with rising costs, it would be a false eco­nomy to down­grade the devel­op­ment.

Ini­tial work on the ter­min­als is due to start in the middle of this year, and the two new fer­ries will be oper­a­tion­al in 2025.

“The two new Inter­is­lander fer­ries will be a game changer for New Zea­l­and trans­port, so the ter­min­als have to be fit for pur­pose and top qual­ity.”

Mr Har­ris­on says there has been a his­tor­ic fail­ure by pre­vi­ous Gov­ern­ments to invest in a mod­ern and effi­cient trans­port sys­tem.

“We are pay­ing for this now in all sorts of areas, and the tech­nic­al prob­lems with the age­ing cur­rent ferry fleet are just one example.”

Mr Har­ris­on says the iRex pro­ject of new fer­ries and ter­min­als by KiwiRail is a pos­it­ive ini­ti­at­ive for New Zealand’s trans­port resi­li­ence.

“The Gov­ern­ment need cred­it for back­ing this import­ant pro­ject and deliv­er­ing on fix­ing neg­lected areas with­in New Zealand’s trans­port sys­tem.”

He says there is wide­spread pub­lic sup­port for get­ting New Zealand’s infra­struc­ture up to speed.