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Speaker 1: So we got another piece of sorts on the next

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Speaker 1: stage of our long and winding Fairry journey. Companies tender

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Speaker 1: on a slightly bigger ship than the current ones. They're

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Speaker 1: rail and able, they don't need new wharves, and they're

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Speaker 1: cheaper than ires now. The former chair of the Ferry

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Speaker 1: Ministerial Advisory Group, Mark Thompson's, well, this's Mark, very good

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Speaker 1: morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Mike.

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Speaker 1: As I understand that you got involved in all of

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Speaker 1: this back in twenty fifteen. Do we need to be here?

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Speaker 1: Has this taken way longer than it ever needed to?

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Speaker 1: Is this a bit of a shambles?

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Speaker 2: Well, I don't think anyone could argue that it should

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Speaker 2: have happened faster, But I guess you know that's all

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Speaker 2: history now and we can't change that. I guess that

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Speaker 2: the key now is making sure that whatever we agree

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Speaker 2: right now actually happens, and happens as as quickly and

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Speaker 2: efficiently as possible.

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Speaker 1: Did you get anything from Peters yesterday that you couldn't

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Speaker 1: have got from Willis last year?

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Speaker 2: I mean, the problem to be solved hasn't changed. It

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Speaker 2: hasn't changed since twenty sixteen. I guess the current fleet

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Speaker 2: is a mix of rail and what they call ropeck ships.

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Speaker 2: You've got aging infrastructure, so nothing's changed in terms of

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Speaker 2: what's required. But I guess it's the challenges when you've

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Speaker 2: got a mix of rail and roads. There's no silver bullet.

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Speaker 2: You know, you've got to overpick one or the other.

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Speaker 2: In Winston's pick rail, which is fine. So they just

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Speaker 2: got to get on with it.

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Speaker 1: Do you worry? I mean, did you do enough work

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Speaker 1: to work out if you announced what he announced yesterday,

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Speaker 1: put the tenders out, can they build winter tender and

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Speaker 1: deliver by twenty nine and five years? Four years? In

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Speaker 1: other words, I.

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Speaker 2: Think I think that's a challenge. We know that from

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Speaker 2: our work in the shipyards in Europe last year that

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Speaker 2: there's a lot of activity up there, and there's currently

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Speaker 2: changes in regulations around fuel and everything that current ferry

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Speaker 2: operators in Europe been sitting on their hands waiting for

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Speaker 2: some sort of steer on future fuel requirements. So there

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Speaker 2: is a possibility there will be an influx of orders

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Speaker 2: that could could compromise the timeline that the Winston's talking about.

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Speaker 2: But it's tight. You know, four years from go to

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Speaker 2: woe everything will have to you know, you'll have to

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Speaker 2: have just spinnaker up and have a calm sea.

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Speaker 1: Is those future proofing or a patch up? What are

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Speaker 1: he announced?

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Speaker 2: Well, if you believe that rail is required on the

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Speaker 2: cook's trade, this gives a solution. But they've got to

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Speaker 2: make sure because freight is constant and passengers a seasonal,

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Speaker 2: you've got to make sure that the ship can configuration

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Speaker 2: can meet both demands. It's not just one market, it's

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Speaker 2: it's several markets. And therefore the the Herataria and the

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Speaker 2: Hero used to be able to do three sailings a

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Speaker 2: day and they've got to make sure that the new

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Speaker 2: ships can do that to meet the seasonal demand. Otherwise

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Speaker 2: you're going to really need three ships.

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Speaker 1: Which we don't have. Obviously, make appreciate your insight. Mark Thompson,

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Speaker 1: former Chair of the Ferry Ministerial Advisory Group. Something tells

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Speaker 1: me we'll be talking about fairies for a few million

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Speaker 1: years yet. For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen

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Speaker 1: live to news talks.

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Speaker 2: It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast

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Speaker 2: on iHeartRadio.