Decision against fourth ferry

Press, 17 December 1986, Page 2

Decision against fourth ferry

By

JOCELYN McNEE

in Blenheim

The Railways Corporation has decided against putting a fourth ferry on the Cook Strait run, says the corporation’s assistant engineer, Mr Euan McQueen. Adding another ferry was considered after the withdrawal of the Coastal Trader service but it had been decided that the existing fleet could cope with the extra workload if more sailings were added to the ferries’ timetable, he said. The situation was being monitored monthly.

“With the situation with the Coastal Trader coming off we have been exploring all options for handling an increase in traffic,” he said. Mr McQueen said the withdrawal of the Coastal Trader meant a further 200,000 tonnes of freight would need to be transported annually, and the Railways intended to meet that market.

But he said it appeared the present ships could cope with present freight levels.

“The big thing is how much freight there is around to move. The current forecast is that we

can cope with it with our present ships,” Mr McQueen said.

Last week-end the freight ferry Arahanga worked most of the extra 12 sailings to clear backlogs of freight and empty waggons on both islands. Six extra trips are planned this week-end.

Over the last few months there has been an upsurge in the amount of freight carried by the ferries.

According to the Searail marketing development manager, Mr Peter Lawson, almost' 10 per cent more freight was carried by the ferries in October compared with the total for the same month last year. The November figure had also increased 2 per cent, he said.

He said increases over the last few months had been balanced by figures earlier in the year and over all the amount of freight carried over the year was slightly down on last year. He said it was too early to tell if the recent increases could be attributed to the Withdrawal of the Coastal Trader. Some increases were the result of GST.