KEY POINTS:
The name Fullers is virtually synonymous with the ferries that connect Auckland with the North Shore and the Gulf islands. The company has dominated the city's water transport for so long that complacency is a constant risk. How else to explain its outrageous dereliction of duty last weekend,
when it left about 120 customers stranded overnight on Waiheke?
They were left behind when the last ferry on Saturday night departed carrying as many passengers as it could safely take. Those left behind say they were told, by local police at least, that another ferry would be sent for them. They waited, dressed lightly for the evening, and as time went on and no ferry came, they did what they could to keep warm. Some reportedly tried to light fires. Two men allegedly broke into the ferry terminal and have been charged with unlawful entry and burglary. It was a cold, bitter, seven-hour wait for the first ferry of the following day.
Fullers later denied giving any assurance that a boat would be sent back for those it left on the pier that night - and, incredibly, issued that denial without the slightest sign of embarrassment.
"When most of the people choose to come back on the last sailing it makes it a little difficult," said Fullers Group operations manager Ian Greenslade. Later the chief executive, Douglas Hudson, expressed regret for the incident but insisted the company was not solely to blame. He said it had dispatched a larger vessel than usual to Waiheke on the last sailing because it expected a large crowd from a dance party at Stonyridge Vineyard. The company did not have staff on call to do another run in the early hours of Sunday, he said.
Doubtless it is "a little difficult" to provide return transport for a crowd, but Fullers has been in this business for a long time. The company admitted it knew an event was bound to put heavy demand on the last sailing of Saturday night and it did nothing to prepare for an overflow. When ferry crew saw what had happened, they evidently felt no obligation to make one more trip for customers who were plainly relying on them.
This is not the normal culture of a business that runs a public service; it is not even the culture of state-owned service providers these days. Fullers' behaviour last Saturday night was a throw-back to the days when so-called public servants would close the counter on a queue of customers if the clock struck closing time.
The best it has offered is to meet police and dance party organisers to try to co-ordinate things better somehow. That is mere flannel; organisers and patrons of events on the Gulf islands should not have dance to the ferry company's convenience. Fullers is contracted by the Auckland Regional Council to provide a service and, thankfully, the council does not sound satisfied with the company's performance. Chairman Mike Lee says a similar incident happened at New Year. "Two stranding incidents are a matter of real concern. The feeling is with ferries, you take people to an island, you should be able to bring them back." Quite.
Mr Lee believes the regional council has the leverage to improve the culture in Fullers. It issues bus and ferry contracts worth millions of dollars. The council has every reason to use that weapon to utmost effect; its urban transport plans hold ferry services to have potential for expansion to many of the residential bays around the region, attracting commuters who might take a bus and ferry to work rather than drive.
But if commuters are going to have confidence in sea transport, ferry operators will need to be inculcated with the principle that, come hell or high water, passengers must not be marooned.
