Move to axe emergency tug months early by Government

The Mar­itime Union of New Zealand says Gov­ern­ment plans to pre­ma­ture­ly end the con­tract for the coun­try’s sole ded­i­cat­ed ocean-going emer­gency tow ves­sel, the MMA Vision, risks lives, the mar­itime envi­ron­ment, and nation­al ener­gy secu­ri­ty.

Mar­itime Union Nation­al Sec­re­tary Carl Find­lay says com­ments made by Trans­port Min­is­ter Chris Bish­op about the future of the MMA Vision are con­cern­ing.

Min­is­ter Bish­op has sug­gest­ed that new Cook Strait fer­ries – which are not due until 2029 – might remove the need for a per­ma­nent emer­gency tow­ing capa­bil­i­ty.

Mr Find­lay says the Union under­stands that Gov­ern­ment fund­ing for the MMA Vision has been removed, with the con­tract now set to end on 4 Feb­ru­ary 2026. This is months ahead of the pub­licly stat­ed end date of June 2026.

He says the Gov­ern­ment needs to make it clear what its plans are.

“The removal of the MMA Vision will leave a gap­ing hole in New Zealand’s mar­itime safe­ty net.”

The emer­gency response con­tract was award­ed to the MMA Vision due to con­cerns over the exist­ing age­ing Cook Strait fer­ry fleet and the extend­ed wait time for replace­ments.

“The cur­rent Cook Strait fer­ries must con­tin­ue oper­at­ing for sev­er­al more years, and their vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty has been shown by a num­ber of recent issues.”

Mr Find­lay says the oth­er Cook Strait fer­ry oper­a­tor, Strait Ship­ping, has age­ing ves­sels which could expe­ri­ence sim­i­lar issues to the Inter­is­lander fleet.

The MMA Vision is a robust Anchor Han­dling Tug Sup­ply (AHTS) ves­sel with a 105-tonne bol­lard pull that far exceeds the capa­bil­i­ty of har­bour tugs for open-ocean res­cues.

Mr Find­lay says the ves­sel has proven its worth in recent months.

In Sep­tem­ber 2025, the MMA Vision suc­cess­ful­ly towed the strick­en oil and chem­i­cal tanker Gold­en Mind to Timaru after the tanker lost steer­ing west of Stew­art Island (Rak­iu­ra).

It also assist­ed in the Man­a­hau ground­ing, pulling the barge off a West­port beach and tow­ing it to Tas­man Bay.

“If the MMA Vision had not been avail­able, then per­haps the Gov­ern­ment can say what would have hap­pened in those cas­es.”

Mr Find­lay says the ves­sel is also cru­cial for retain­ing high-skilled mar­itime jobs need­ed for New Zealand’s mar­itime future.

“The MMA Vision crew are high­ly skilled MUNZ mem­bers expe­ri­enced in rugged New Zealand waters. The skills used in the off­shore oil and gas indus­try are direct­ly trans­fer­able to emerg­ing indus­tries like off­shore wind. Main­tain­ing our skilled mar­itime work­force ensures New Zealand has the nec­es­sary exper­tise to move for­ward.”

MUNZ is demand­ing the Gov­ern­ment main­tain fund­ing, con­firm the MMA Vision will remain con­tract­ed, and com­mit to a long-term, per­ma­nent Emer­gency Tow­ing Ves­sel solu­tion.