Hate to give Judith Collins any (faint) praise, but the pivot to explaining that our ageing planes are NOT just for VIP trips is a no-brainer - Chris Hipkins did it for them days ago. Don't know the pros & cons of the ordered replacement ferries that this govt cancelled (did we have to pay a fee?) but as mentioned, it has put the replacement date further into the future which seems less than ideal, even BEFORE the latest event. Just like planes, it is foolish to skimp on $$ when safety is at stake, not to mention such a vital freight & vehicle/passenger link.
Few have touched on the issue of whether the iRex project was ever going to be fit for purpose - ships so big they couldn't safely navigate the Tory Channel entrance; trains on it so long they would cut off Picton traffic for half an hour each time they loaded and unloaded (which was why a massively expensive over-bridge was about to be built) and no one asked the road freight sector about the hopeless deadlines they'd have to meet with only two Interislander ferries. Thank goodness for Bluebridge, quietly picking up the slack.
'Fit' being the operative word. I have a friend- a maritime professional who lives in Picton, who said the same concerning 'too big to fit the waterway' ferries when IRex was first mooted.
While it's good to have two ferry operators, Given that Bluebridge was recently purchased by 'Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Pty', one has to ask if the Interislander is being deliberately disadvantaged, for example by not being rail-enabled, by a government that cares more about serving the global capital markets than it does about network-appropriate strategic infrastructure.
Hate to give Judith Collins any (faint) praise, but the pivot to explaining that our ageing planes are NOT just for VIP trips is a no-brainer - Chris Hipkins did it for them days ago. Don't know the pros & cons of the ordered replacement ferries that this govt cancelled (did we have to pay a fee?) but as mentioned, it has put the replacement date further into the future which seems less than ideal, even BEFORE the latest event. Just like planes, it is foolish to skimp on $$ when safety is at stake, not to mention such a vital freight & vehicle/passenger link.
Deliberately disadvantaging is the name of this govts game in every sphere.
Few have touched on the issue of whether the iRex project was ever going to be fit for purpose - ships so big they couldn't safely navigate the Tory Channel entrance; trains on it so long they would cut off Picton traffic for half an hour each time they loaded and unloaded (which was why a massively expensive over-bridge was about to be built) and no one asked the road freight sector about the hopeless deadlines they'd have to meet with only two Interislander ferries. Thank goodness for Bluebridge, quietly picking up the slack.
'Fit' being the operative word. I have a friend- a maritime professional who lives in Picton, who said the same concerning 'too big to fit the waterway' ferries when IRex was first mooted.
While it's good to have two ferry operators, Given that Bluebridge was recently purchased by 'Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Pty', one has to ask if the Interislander is being deliberately disadvantaged, for example by not being rail-enabled, by a government that cares more about serving the global capital markets than it does about network-appropriate strategic infrastructure.