AS THE Bluebridge Cook Strait ro-pax Connemara remains out-of-service for a second week due to apparently unresolved technical problems, the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) has renewed its warning about the risks arising from New Zealand abandoning its emergency towing vessel contract.
In a Facebook post MUNZ has said bluntly that the Government will be responsible if lives are lost at sea.
Transport minister Chris Bishop announced in November 2025 that Cabinet had decided the cost of the ETV MMA Vision could not be justified and accordingly terminated the contract early in February 2026 to save about NZ $9 million.
Victor Billot, MUNZ communications officer, said given the current state of Cook Strait ferries, the decision to axe the country’s only tugboat capable of towing large ships in open ocean conditions, was “irresponsible”.
“Given the record of the ferries over the past couple of years – we’ve had power failures, we’ve had ferries drifting and some pretty loose stuff happening – it seems irresponsible for the Government to pull that,” he said.
“Especially given the fact that we are dealing with ageing vessels that are having problems... we’ll see how sensible that decision was if there’s a major incident with a ferry that gets stuck in the Cook Strait and we have no vessel that can go out and get it back in.”
The ferries had already suffered disruptions since the start of the year, Mr Billot noted. Bluebridge cancelled sailings in early January due to a technical fault on Connemara, before Interislander’s Kaiārahi suffered technical issues that left hundreds stranded.
Now Connemara has been out-of-service since 21 March when it broke down at Picton and was forced to return empty to Wellington for repairs. Bluebridge/StraitNZ has faced savage criticism in New Zealand, having offered no explanation of the vessel’s current problems while apologising unreservedly. Maritime NZ said on Saturday [28 March] it would undertake its own inspection of the vessel to ensure safety standards were being met, but did not provide a timeframe.
MUNZ has pointed out the Cook Strait ferry service also faces a winter of disruption with only one Interislander ferry available for an extended period. Kaiārahi will be out for layby maintenance in June and July, before the Kaitaki sails to Singapore in August for dry docking. Aratere was retired last year.
Mr Billot said MMA Vision was an essential backup for the ageing ferries, and the Government should have focused on its potential to save lives, not money.
“A lot of these decisions are being made on a fiscal basis — and we understand you have to keep costs down — but you have to also have to look at the risk to people, and we’re pretty concerned that money seems to take the priority,” he said.
“As a union representing the crew who are on the ferries and other vessels, our point would be, what is the cost of not having that vessel?
“The Government needs to urgently act on that now, otherwise they will be held responsible if something goes terribly wrong.”
Industry sources have suggested that vessels such as TT Line’s Spirit of Tasmania I and II, due to become available later this year, could attract interest, although DCN has been unable to confirm whether any parties have made formal approaches.