Editorial: Fullers ferry deal a win for all in Wanganui

WANGANUI company Q-West is rapt it has won the contract to build two ferries for Fullers.

So are we.

The $16 million will pump money and people and skills into the Wanganui economy.

Q-West has obviously built up a good relationship with Fullers so they are trusted. Relationship building is a bit of a cliche in business but probably because it's true - it's enabled Fullers to award another contract to a company not in their own boatbuilding backyard. The two new 360 seater ferries will be launched in October 2016 and April 2017 respectively.

And in interviews Q-West chief executive Myles Fothergill has said that it's the businesses around him in Wanganui - and their dependability - that has helped make his private company successful. Cost effectiveness and stability can trump the disadvantages to working in a smaller centre.

The Q-West story is repeated elsewhere in Wanganui and around the regions. Smaller - and some not so small - companies that can, and do. Except the connection is not made in the national media. Places like Wanganui and Taihape become bywords for provincial and provincial means backward. But tell that to Q-West, or Incept Marine in Taihape which makes hundreds of inflatable craft at $4500 each for the American Search and Rescue Service.

The Fullers contract also shows there is money to be made off Auckland. The ferry deal comes on the back of the estimated 1000 daily commuters on the run to Waiheke Island from the central city as well as tourism growth in New Zealand's biggest city.

So congratulations to Q-West and its staff for producing a world-class product year in and year out. A win for you is a win for all of us.