Move to reduce wages cost of ferries

Press, 2 May 1985, Page 2

Move to reduce wages cost of ferries

PA Wellington Almost half of the running costs of the Cook Strait ferries are wages and the Railways Corporation is trying to reduce the amount.

The corporation's deputy general manager, Mr Bob Henare, said wages made up 47 per cent of costs, which figure could not be ignored when considering ways to achieve greater efficiencies.

Wages for the 575 crew of the three rail ferries cost $2O million annually, according to Mr Jim Mills, the

head of Searail, the corporation’s ferry enterprise. Mr Mills said crew had to be brought in from other centres when a vacancy arose in a ship and there were no available seamen in Wellington.

As well, officers could live anywhere in New Zealand and the corporation had to pay the costs of flying them to Wellington, accommodating them at a hotel before and after their tour of duty, and sending them home.

Mr Mills said this was raised dt a conference at Waitangi on April 16 and 17 on the future of the mari-

time industry, and was still under discussion. He said a court case about three years ago had ruled against a directive that officers live in Wellington. Mr Henare said he hoped

the task force on shipping set up by the Minister of Transport, Mr Prebble, would also examine ways to cut staff levels at off-peak times and the system of paying travel and accommodation costs for crew living outside Wellington.

Crew costs did not make up such a large part of overheads for many overseas vessels, he said.