Clifford Bay rides again: Grice brothers, Sean Colgan behind ambitious Cook Strait port plan

A render of the proposed port and multi-user ferry terminal at Clifford Bay. (Image: CB Port Limited)

Mon, 09 Jun 2025

Clifford Bay has been looked at as the South Island port for Cook Strait ferries several times since the early 20th century. Now, a pair of entrepreneurial brothers and their wealthy American business partner are revisiting the supply chain-shaping idea. Some time in the 1980s, Captain John Brown took the Interislander ferry, Arahura, on an audacious nighttime run from Wellington to Clifford Bay, around 55 kilometres south of the existing terminal at Picton.As Brown told BusinessDesk earlier this year, he found the route easier to navigate...

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