FERRY Holdings has chosen the builder of the new KiwiRail Cook Strait rail/ro-paxes but will not disclose the identity until contracts are finalised.
NZ deputy PM and rail minister Winston Peters late last week announced the preferred supplier had been secured, after FH conducted wide market engagement, led a closed tender process with six shipyards, and had now signed a letter of intent to start the final stage of technical negotiations.
“Nobody can accuse us of a lack of pace when Ferry Holdings is delivering a multi-year procurement process within nine months,” Mr Peters said.
“The letter of intent is a key milestone in any procurement process as it means the two parties are on the same page for the deal and can now iron out the technical points before signing later this year.
“The shipbuilder and Ferry Holdings have agreed a fixed price, completion in 2029, and full delivery of our ship specification for 200-metre-long ferries with road and rail decks, room for 1,500 passengers each, and an extraordinary 2.4 kilometres on each ferry of lanes for trucks, cars and 40 rail wagons.
“The shipyard will be named once the contracts are signed, and we thank the other five shipyards for their competitive engagement throughout this process.
“This deal builds on more than six decades of Interislander serving New Zealand on the Cook Strait and readies the Strait for another 30 years of service.
“In a few short months we will show the taxpayer exactly how we have saved them billions by returning to the no-nonsense ferry replacement solution that was supposed to happen in 2020 but was so wantonly disregarded between 2021 and 2023.
“In Tasmania, two ferries arrived with nowhere to berth and had we followed the previous Government’s mismanaged course we would have spent $4 billion to have exactly the same outcome – but thankfully commonsense is at the helm again,” Mr Peters said.
According to the timeline provided by Mr Peters:
On 31 March 2025, Cabinet agreed to the core ship specification for two new rail ferries to be procured by Ferry Holdings Limited.
Following detailed preparations and engagement with shipyards through an expressions-of-interest process, the procurement process for the two new ferries formally commenced, with the six short-listed shipyards being visited by Ferry Holdings and their key advisors.
The Request for Information phase with the shortlisted shipyards was completed in June and resulted in 229 information requests received and processed by Ferry Holdings. This process enabled Ferry Holdings to clarify important technical matters with the shipyards before receiving their proposals. The resulting proposals from the shipyards were evaluated by a team of advisors and Ferry Holdings to determine which yard would best deliver to NZ’s requirements.
The signing of the Letter of Intent signals the commencement of negotiations between Ferry Holdings and the shipyard for the design, construction, and delivery of the two new ferries.
The new ferries will work to minimise carbon emissions and will have an expected life of 30 years. Diesel-electric hybrid engines with batteries will be fitted and azimuth thrusters’ propulsion (360-degree directional rotating) to support the vessels’ manoeuvrability in the Tory Channel, whilst docking, and operating at 20 knots.
The ships are designed to meet safe return to port requirements and will be fitted with system redundancies to ensure the required operational reliability in the event of equipment failure.