this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2024
12 points (100.0% liked)

Aotearoa / New Zealand

1656 readers
7 users here now

Kia ora and welcome to !newzealand, a place to share and discuss anything about Aotearoa in general

Rules:

FAQ ~ NZ Community List ~ Join Matrix chatroom

 

Banner image by Bernard Spragg

Got an idea for next month's banner?

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Dave
RaoulDuke
12
Interislander replacements: 'We're continuing to take advice' - Willis (www.rnz.co.nz)
submitted 2 months ago by Ilovethebomb to c/newzealand
17 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Hopefully, the solution is new boats that are a more sensible size, and don't need the extensive infrastructure upgrades the new fleet would have required. One of the cancelled designs would have been a similar displacement to our current fleet of three.

I really hope the solution isn't another clapped out beater from Europe.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Ilovethebomb 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

We've had far smaller vessels in the past that have been rail enabled though, even smaller than what we currently have.

An argument against moving is we wouldn't just have to build the port, we would need road, rail, and all the utilities as well, whereas in Picton they're already there.

[–] Dave 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I'd be curious if a private company could build themselves a smallish port and start running a premium service where they could charge more because of the shorter travel time. You wouldn't have the supporting township but that could grow overtime as you pick up more customers.

[–] Ilovethebomb 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That's been done in a way with a catamaran service, the Fast Cat ferries were brought in to compete with them. I think they sailed from Porirua.

Part of the problem is you would have to base yourself in Port Underwood, which is kinda the middle of nowhere, which would erase some of the time savings.

[–] Dave 2 points 2 months ago

This page mentions a "Top cat" ferry as well as the lynx ones. As far as I can tell though, these are faster boats rather than shorter routes.