He says the marine infrastructure in Picton requires replacement, so it will be replaced, while the Wellington infrastructure “has life left in it” and will be modified and re-used.
A timeline shows a shipyard will be selected for the build, with the government to sign off on contracts by the end of the year.
Multi-party infrastructure works will also be scoped, costed and set to begin by the end of year.
Ferry Holdings, the Schedule 4 company the government has set up, is assuming full responsibility from the Treasury as of April, with critical advisors to be brought on board.
It would get governance structures – including co-funding – in place with both ports, and KiwiRail, before the third quarter of the year.
Peters said the government’s solution would be “markedly cheaper” than the previous government’s iReX project “because of a minimum viable and maximum reuse approach for the port infrastructure”.
“The future Interislander ferries will have road and rail decks, given the efficiency of single shunt movements for multiple rail wagons for loading and unloading,” he said.
“The design specifications chosen include vessel lengths of approximately 200m – longer and wider than the current fleet and capable of serving our people and goods into the future, but shorter than the large ferries ordered in 2021 which created significant infrastructure issues.”
He said the approach taken to the port infrastructure was the most cost effective “and contrasts sharply with the wanton demolition and extravagant specification under the cancelled project, where they assumed almost all costs would be at the taxpayers’ expense”.
A media release showed the ferries would each have capacity for 1500 passengers, would have 2.4km of lanes for cars, trucks, and 40 rail wagons.
They would be highly manoeuverable, designed to operate at 20 knots, capable of operating through the Tory Channel, and designed with “modern system redundancies and future proofing solutions to reduce carbon emissions”.
Peters was named the new minister for rail in December, promising a cheaper solution with ships to be in operation by 2029 when the current ageing fleet is set for retirement.
