However, the operational arrangement would be reviewed in 2039, 10 years after the ferries arrive, in an effort to keep KiwiRail “on their toes”, Peters said.
Peters said KiwiRail pay a lease fee Ferry Holdings, the entity established to procure the ferries. KiwiRail will be required to build up a reserve over the next 30 years so it can directly purchase new ferries in 2059.
The new ferries, being built in China, have been legally registered with new names, honouring New Zealand’s maritime history and the enduring role of Cook Strait in connecting the country.
The new Interislander ferries are due to arrive in 2029.
“These are proper names. Historic names. New Zealand names,” Peters said.
He took aim at anyone who might criticise the names.
“Now, we know exactly what will happen. The snivelling wokesters will work themselves into a lather over the name Cook, while offering only passing approval for Kupe. That is how shallow this has become.
“It is fashionable now in certain circles to treat Captain Cook as nothing more than a symbol to be condemned, cancelled, and cast out. A harbinger of colonisation, they say. A figure of division, they say. A relic to be erased.”
Labour Party transport spokesman Tangi Utikere said the announcement was “another sideshow”.
“If Nicola Willis hadn’t destroyed Labour’s iReX programme, New Zealand would be preparing to welcome modern replacement ferries into service.
“Instead, they’ve wasted years, wasted hundreds of millions of dollars, and pushed replacement and resilience even further into the future.”
Peters also announced that KiwiRail would pay port fees to CentrePort in Wellington and the Port of Marlborough, at a commercial price, which would allow the ports to earn a “reasonable profit” on their combined $210m investment in infrastructure to accommodate the ferries.
He said Ferry Holdings had now signed full development agreements for port infrastructure.
The port companies have contracted construction firms Vinci and HEB for works in Picton, and Bryan Perry Civil in Wellington, to complete the works.
“These are meaty contracts in the hundreds of millions, with good programme life to give meaningful work to construction workers and to make use of your plant and equipment,” Peters said.