Waiheke Island car-ferry terminal gets new impetus

By WAYNE THOMPSON

The prospect of new terminal facilities for Waiheke Island car-ferry users is brighter after a breakthrough in talks among rival operators.

Last summer Pacific Ferries introduced competition in the vehicle ferry service from Half Moon Bay. But the company stopped its scheduled service claiming obstruction by the Subritzky company, which said it had a priority-use agreement for the loading ramp at Half Moon Bay.

The row stopped progress in getting resource consent for a new terminal for which Infrastructure Auckland provided $3.8 million.

The Auckland Regional Transport Network (ARTNL), which is owned by Auckland's councils, stepped in to try to solve the impasse.

ARTNL chief executive Martin Gummer said a carrot and stick approach had been taken with the operators to try to bring in a new open-access regime at Half Moon Bay.

ARTNL as provider of wharf facilities had taken the line that it would decide the rules and would manage access to give a new operator a reasonable opening, while respecting as much as possible the other operator's existing rights.

"We have reached the point where we think we can proceed, subject to some final details around the new sailing schedules," he said.

The deal included ARTNL taking over Subritzky's plans for a terminal and paying for its intellectual property and help in guiding the project through the resource consent process. The amount was not finalised but would be "some hundreds of thousands of dollars".

Construction of the terminal could start early next year if the consent process goes smoothly.

Manukau Mayor Sir Barry Curtis said he was pleased with the breakthrough.

"I'm urging all parties to work to remove any remaining glitches to this programme and to work constructively to support ARTNL's planned timetable."