No ferry for Nelson

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33479, 9 March 1974, Page 2

No ferry for Nelson

Nelson will not get a part of the Cook Strait ferry trade. This was made clear in a letter from the Minister of Railways (Mr McGuigan) received at the quarterly meeting of the South Island Local Bodies Association council vesterdav.

The association had sought a rail-ferry link through Nelson, as had the Nelson Harbour Board, the Nelson-Marl-borough-West Coast League of Local Bodies, and the member of Par-

liament for Nelson and Speaker of the House of j Representatives (Mr S. A. Whitehead). Mr McGuigan said that 1 the linkspan facilities it Nelson, which were expected to be in use by October, would be able to handle road vehicles only.

Consequently, all cargo to Or from Nelson would need to be in containers, and, because the rail deck on the present ferries could not withstand the combined: weight of a forklift truck; and loaded container, all, containers would be single-i stacked or transported n | rubber-tyred trucks or trail-, UPPER DECKS "This factor, in con-i (unction with the inability of the linkspan at Nelson to service the upper deck of! the railway vessels, limits I the carrying 'apacity of such a service,” said Mr:

McGuigan Most cargo from Nelson! for North Island centres other than Wellington is*

carried by conventional coastal vessels, and. assum-l ing that most of this would ■ I be transferred to the re-1 quested rail-ferry service,' • the volume of cargo between ■ Wellington and Nelson! would require between two! ’ and four return sailings a week.

‘'Compared with the: ', present five-day-a-week ser-1 vice offered via the notional railway, this loss of frequenIcy would not be acceptable ■ to the shippers of freight," 1 said Mr McGuigan ! "Passengers and those, . travelling with motor cars at: •i present enjoy the choice of : ! several sailings spread ov< j

> a seven-day week, and ai I change to Nelson would' • again be unacceptable. FLOW DISRUPTION t II "Provision of such a ser-; ; vice to Nelson would se- [ riously disrupt the flow of . traffic through Picton and have far-reaching con-| .'sequences. The cost of trans-’ Sporting goods to or from ’Nelson by containers greatlvl .(exceeds present costs by ■ conventional shipping or the, i national railway, and would f therefore be unattractive tel i[clients.” he said. ' The association decided to ■(pursue the request, and has.

asked the local bodies in the area to provide a feasibility study to support another approach to the Government.