High safety fees will up ferry costs

Ferry passengers could cop the cost of safety fees if the Marlborough District Council passes a controversial navigational bylaw.

The Interislander faces an additional levy of about $600,000 a year under the proposed council scheme to improve safety in the Marlborough Sounds.

Interislander spokesman Nigel Parry said the price of a Cook Strait ferry ticket could rise as a result.

"It certainly would increase our costs, which would obviously have some bearing on what we are able to charge," Mr Parry said.

He said the navigational bylaw was ill-conceived and would not boost safety, mainly because it failed to address the dangers caused by recreational boaties.

However, he said he did not believe the bylaw would go through in its current form after strong opposition to it was raised at the hearing held in Blenheim.

Sheryl Ellison, the managing director of Strait Shipping, which owns the ferry company Bluebridge, said the company already paid fees to Port Marlborough and Maritime New Zealand and any increase may be passed on to passengers.

"In the current economic climate we don't think that our freight customers or passengers should have to absorb these extra costs either."

Marlborough District Council-appointed commissioners finished hearing four days of submissions on the proposed bylaw on Monday.

Under the proposal, commercial operators will have to pay scaled safety fees and to install an automatic identification system.

Destination Marlborough board member and co-owner of Portage Resort Hotel Dain Simpson was among submitters who said it was inevitable that costs would be passed on to customers.

This morning, he said he had not calculated the impact it would have on boat trips to Portage, but said if the increased cost was $1 it was likely ticket prices would have to be raised $2 to $3 for the operator to maintain its operating margins, "which they are entitled to do".

Mr Simpson said the whole of the Sounds and the Queen Charlotte Track was built up around a very efficient water-taxi service.

"Anything that disturbs that efficiency, whether that be changing the times, changing the costs is likely to affect the future of tourism in the Sounds."

He said a cost-benefit analysis on the impact of the proposals on water taxis and Sounds accommodation providers should be carried out.

Cougar Lines owner Jill Evans also said it was inevitable that commercial operators would have to pass on the cost of the marine bylaw changes to their customers.

Cougar Lines operates four boats out of Picton providing transport in Queen Charlotte Sound.

"We would have to see what the total cost is.

"It includes the vessel charges as well as the cost of the transponder on the boats.

"The price of fuel at the moment means we are unable to absorb these new costs and will have to pass them on. We are also looking at other safety equipment we have to purchase."

Mr Parry said he would like to have a forum with Sounds users to come up with practical solutions and something that is acceptable to everyone.

- The Marlborough Express