The government has sunk plans to station an open ocean tug in the Cook Strait long term saying the costs outweigh the benefits.
For years local government leaders on either side of the North and South Island had been calling for open ocean tugs after several near miss accidents.
One of these was in January 2023 when the Interislander ferry Kaitaki was sailing into Wellington Harbour with 854 passengers on board and lost power, which resulted in a mayday call.
In April the government contracted the MMA Vision, an open ocean tug, to be stationed in Wellington till June while it came up with a long term solution.
On Tuesday, the government announced that contract will end earlier in February and there would be no replacement for it.
Transport Minister Chris Bishop said cabinet had considered a detailed business case for open ocean tugs in March which would provide a tug which could stabilise a stricken boat and another which could tow that boat in.
Bishop said while Cook Strait clearly had risks, they were too small for the costs associated with the tugs.
He said those costs had escalated from the initial business case to the detailed business case from around $80 million over 10 years to over $259 million over 10 years.
The minister also noted most recorded boating incidents happened outside of Cook Strait.
“While most of these costs were intended to be paid with the establishment of EORC-specific levies, there would still be significant cost pressures on the Crown to procure an EORC solution, and these levies would be passed onto consumers through higher prices.
“Put bluntly, the cost to taxpayers is too high for something that’s unlikely to be needed – and unlikely to be useful even if it is.”
He said cancelling the MMA Vision contract early would save $9 million.
Written by Nick James, RNZ Journalist
