Kelsian Group has been awarded new contracts by Auckland Transport under which it will operate passenger ferry services in Auckland, New Zealand.<\/p>\n
The company has also purchased Auckland-based ferry operator Belaire Ferries for more than $7 million, the deal marking the SA-based company\u2019s foray into New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Kelsian, which also operates Adelaide Metro\u2019s bus services, said the Auckland ferry contract, for services starting from July 1 next year, were expected to generate $83 million in revenue over the seven-year life of the contract.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are delighted to have secured our first contract in New Zealand reflecting Kelsian\u2019s capability as a leading global multi-modal transport operator,\u201d Kelsian CEO Graeme Legh said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis new long-term contract package, together with the acquisition of Belaire Ferries, establishes a strategically important platform that positions Kelsian to pursue further growth opportunities in the New Zealand market.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kelsian will operate and maintain a fleet of six vessels, comprising four currently owned by Belaire Ferries, and two existing Kelsian vessels which will be relocated from South-East Queensland to Auckland ahead of service commencement.<\/p>\n
The Adelaide-headquartered company will also buy five new ferries over the seven year contract term to replace the initial ferry fleet, with the first new ship to enter service mid-2028.<\/p>\n
The news comes after Kelsian\u2019s SeaLink confirmed its new Kangaroo Island ferry service would commence in August this year.<\/p>\n
Its new vessel, Wanggami, arrived in SA recently and the final build stages on its sister ship Ruwi were underway.<\/p>\n
SeaLink South Australia general manager Tracy Croft said the arrival of Wanggami marked an important step forward for the future of ferry services to KI.<\/p>\n
\u201cWelcoming Wanggami to South Australia has been a significant milestone for the SeaLink team, the Kangaroo Island community and everyone who relies on this essential service,\u201d Croft said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe new Kangaroo Island Ferry Service represents the largest investment in the service\u2019s history and is expected to deliver significant improvements in capacity, reliability and customer experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur priority remains delivering a safe, reliable and well-planned transition that provides long-term benefits for residents, freight operators, businesses and visitors travelling to and from Kangaroo Island.\u201d<\/p>\n
SeaLink said the new Kangaroo Island Ferry Service would commence on or before 23 September 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kelsian Group has been awarded new contracts by Auckland Transport under which it will operate passenger ferry services…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":774384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-774383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}