Regulars reading recently here of real ferry crises in Washington State USA, British Columbia Canada, New Zealand and, this morning, Ontario Canada, might be wondering if the Mull councillor groomed by the Scottish Tories to say that CalMac is the ‘worst in the world‘ might be way off beam in his assessment.

We haven’t even looked at the ferry services in Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines with their tragic losses of boats and lives.

Today, we return to New Zealand, GDP 25% greater than Scotland, to read of:

2 ferries hit wharves and are holed

1 drifts after losing power in all four engines toward rocks and has to be rescued while local hospital is put on standby for mass casualties

Breakdowns in February led to the fleet of 6 reduced to 1

5 more breakdowns in the fleet of 6 through March

In August the MV Kaitaki has to abort a crossing due to steering problems and keep passengers aboard all night

Then wharf workers go on strike

2 new Korean-built ferries, cost $551 million, are delayed to late 2026

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/133286298/not-so-shipshape-a-catalogue-of-complications-for-the-cook-strait-ferries

Wait $551 million for two ferries that are late? They were originally costed at $400 million.

$551 million is £442 million.

From the Herald on 29 September 2023 – Costs of Scots ferry fiasco soars – and could reach £400m

The NZ ferries are twice the length.