Peters Warns of More Cook Strait Ferry Chaos Ahead

KiwiRail’s Cook Strait ferry service will be thrown into further chaos when the company announces shortly after Parliament rises for the year that it has purchased the rust bucket Stena Alegra to replace the aging but reliable Arahura, warns Rt Hon Winston Peter, Leader of New Zealand First.

“KiwiRail plans to make an announcement about the Stena Alegra within weeks and will argue that spending millions to “upgrade” Stena Alegra would be cheaper than refitting Arahura,” Mr Peters says.

“This is a case of making a bad situation even worse and it has been caused by the utter failure of the decision to lengthen Aratere which is now too slow to keep to a timetable for Cook Strait crossings and has a lengthy list of other operational problems.

“Stena Alegra has run aground on two occasions. It has serious engine issues and uses twenty times more lubricant than other ferries.

“It cannot dock properly to take railway waggons so the freight has to be loaded on other vehicles to be taken on board.”

Mr Peters says Stena Alegra was under constant repair when it was last used on the Cook Strait run while Arahura is still reliable and can maintain schedules.

“KiwiRail will try to use a reported systems failure on Arahura earlier this month to prove the ferry is past it but we have been informed from the ship itself that failure was actually human error.

“The public relations campaign to cover up the forthcoming bungles will start in two weeks. Once again we ask the Minister to step in and put people who know what they are doing in charge of the ferries.

“For thousands of travellers and freight companies the KiwiRail ferries have become a sick and expensive joke. Trained saboteurs could not have done a better job of disrupting the state-owned Cook Strait ferry service.

“There will be more to come on this,” Mr Peters concluded.

ENDS

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