New Zealand based Ferry Holdings has secured the preferred supplier of two new ferries to serve passengers, road and rail for the next 30 years, NZ’s Rail Minister, Winston Peters, has announced.
“Nobody can accuse us of a lack of pace when Ferry Holdings is delivering a multi-year procurement process within nine months,” Minister Peters said.
“Ferry Holdings has conducted wide market engagement, led a closed tender process with six shipyards, and has now signed a letter of intent with the preferred shipbuilder to start the final stage of technical negotiations.
“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 m long ferries with road and rail decks, room for 1,500 passengers each, and an extraordinary 2.4 km 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 bill to have exactly the same outcome – but thankfully common sense is at the helm again,” Minister Peters claimed.
On 31st March, 2025, the NZ Cabinet agreed to the core ship specifications for two new rail ferries to be procured by Ferry Holdings.
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 advisors.
The ‘Request for Information’ phase with the shortlisted shipyards was completed in June and resulted in 229 information requests received and processed.
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 the company’ requirements.
The signing of the Letter of Intent (LoI) 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 be designed to transport passengers, cars, trucks and rail wagons across the Cook Strait. The new vessels will work to minimise carbon emissions and will have an expected life of 30 years.
The ships will be of 200 m in length and 28 m beam with a capacity to carry 1,530 passengers and 70 crew, a drive-on and off capability for 2,400 lane m for cars, trucks and 40 rail wagons.
They will be diesel-electric hybrid powered with batteries and azimuth thrusters’ propulsion to support the vessels’ manoeuvrability in the Tory Channel, whilst berthing, and will operate at 20 knots.
Each ferry will be 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.
