Toll puts fuel surcharge on ferry fares

Toll NZ has introduced a fuel surcharge on its Cook Strait ferry fares, but rival Strait Shipping has no plans to follow suit.

Toll NZ imposed a surcharge of $3 a passenger and $7 a car on its Interisland Line crossings from November 1. The surcharge, revealed at its annual meeting last month, applies to new bookings.

Toll NZ passenger fares vary between $45 and $60 a person for a one-way journey and the $3 charge is on top of that. The higher-priced fares are flexible if passengers want to change them.

Strait Shipping's Bluebridge ferry charges $45 an adult one way and $25 a child year round. A vehicle costs $120 one way.

A Strait Shipping spokeswoman declined to comment on whether the company expected to gain market share from Toll NZ by not adding a surcharge.

Strait Shipping did not comment on its competitor's business, she said. "We're just focused on growing the market. We're 100 per cent New Zealand owned and a lot of people choose us because of that."

Toll NZ is 84.2 per cent owned by Toll Holdings of Australia and most of the rest of its shares are owned by a United States-based fund manager.

Interisland Line general manager Paul Garaty said last month that increases in fuel prices had become too much for the company to absorb.

- NZPA