Clifford Bay: The one that got away again

Proponents of the Clifford Bay route say it would be much quicker than going through the Marlborough Sounds to Picton. (Graphic: NorthSouth Express)

Pattrick Smellie

Thu, 08 Jan 2026

As lost causes go, the case for moving the Cook Strait ferry terminals from Picton to Clifford Bay is right up there.Right up there as a tale of how political rhetoric and political reality so often fail to meet.Every economist and pretty much every politician will tell you New Zealand has a productivity problem.Perhaps if we thought of productivity in the way that we used to think about competitiveness, we would realise that there is no quick fix for this.If competitiveness comes from a thousand different places, then so does productivity.Ever...

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