The new Cook Strait ferries will be named Kupe and Cook, and Minister for Rail Winston Peters says "snivelling wokesters" will "work themselves into a lather" over the latter.
Peters announced the names in a speech at Parliament today, alongside confirmation KiwiRail will operate the two vessels for 30 years from their arrival in 2029.
He said it was "fashionable now in certain circles" to treat Captain Cook as "nothing more than a symbol to be condemned, cancelled, and cast out".
"Well, we say this: a mature country does not run from its history," Peters said.
"We will not allow a noisy minority to dictate what the rest of this country is allowed to remember.
"These are proper names. Historic names. New Zealand names. Kupe and Cook reflect New Zealand as it actually is: a country shaped by the sea, by settlement, by risk, by enterprise, and by people who crossed dangerous waters in search of a future."
The vessels are being built by Chinese state-backed shipbuilder Guangzhou Shipyard International, with construction due to start in 2027.
Peters announced the names in a speech at Parliament today, alongside confirmation KiwiRail will operate the two vessels for 30 years from their arrival in 2029. (Source: Supplied)
'Experience counts'
Peters said KiwiRail's 64-year track record made it the correct choice to run the vessels.
"KiwiRail has run the Interislander since its inception in 1962, and in our book, experience counts."
He said Interislander reliability now sat at 98%, with KiwiRail on track, pending final audit, to meet its $160 million earnings target to 30 June 2026.
The operating arrangement will be reviewed in 2039 after the first 10 years.
Peters said the deal was "no gift", with KiwiRail to pay port fees to CentrePort, Port Marlborough and Ferry Holdings. He said the fees would be similar to what is paid today as a share of fares.
CentrePort and Port Marlborough will earn returns on their $100m and $110m contributions, while a special purpose vehicle will co-own new Picton infrastructure between Port Marlborough and Ferry Holdings, which is paying $373m for the more complex work there.
Wellington's marine infrastructure will be modified, with construction partners including HEB and Vinci in Picton and Brian Perry Civil in Wellington.
He said the taxpayer contribution would be no more than $1.7 billion, confirmed in November 2025 alongside the fixed price shipbuilding contract. The Government said at the time the overall programme cost was estimated at $1.86b, a figure that excluded the cost of exiting the previous iReX contracts and money already spent.
iRex fallout
Peters said the programme saved $2.3b compared to iReX, which KiwiRail had costed at $3.1b and Treasury had warned could reach $4b.
The coalition cancelled the Labour-era project shortly after being elected, with Peters previously saying the new ships had saved "billions".
In August, KiwiRail put the final cost of the cancelled project at $671m, including $222m paid to Hyundai Mipo Dockyard.
"There will be no cost-plus construction contracts and no lazy project management. Ferry Holdings holds the purse strings and retains the major rights in controlling the programme," Peters said.
He said the deal required KiwiRail to build a reserve over the next 30 years to purchase replacement ferries in 2059.
"This is not just a deal to secure the Strait for another generation; it secures it for the next two generations."
Labour responds
In a statement, Labour's Tangi Utikere said: "Winston Peters announcing the names of ferries New Zealand won't see for another three years is another sideshow from a Government that's become far better at holding press conferences than delivering projects".
"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."
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