One of the two new Russell ferries gets a yellow wrap at Bay of Islands Boatyard in Ōpua. Photo / Greg Philpott
One of the two new Russell ferries gets a yellow wrap at Bay of Islands Boatyard in Ōpua. Photo / Greg Philpott
A Northland business hamstrung by staff and accommodation shortages has come up with an innovative solution — it’s starting up its own ferry service.
Many hospitality businesses around New Zealand are struggling to find staff but at the Duke of Marlborough Hotel in Russell the problem is especially acute.
That’sbecause homes in the town are eye-wateringly expensive — well beyond most workers’ means — and Airbnb has taken most rentals off the market.
That’s compounded by Russell’s isolation because workers in more affordable towns such as Paihia and Haruru can’t get home once the ferries stop running around 10pm.
Duke of Marlborough co-owner Riki Kinnaird said the business had tried various solutions over the years, including buying homes in Russell or finding land for low-cost housing, but that had proved impossible.
Finding staff, let alone accommodation, had always been tough in Russell but the situation was worse now than at any time in the past 12 years.
“It’s a combination of market conditions, low-cost housing not being available and people using Airbnb,” he said.
“Plus, on the demand side, customers are wanting to stick around longer. When a wedding goes to 1am but most of our staff have to leave at 10pm for the last ferry, it puts a lot of pressure on the few that do live in Russell. We don’t want them burning out. We do 31 weddings a year and 100 other functions that last until 1am.”
If accommodation couldn’t be found in Russell the next best thing would be an after-hours ferry service connecting Russell with more affordable areas of the Bay.
“We’ve tried to work with the existing ferries. They’ve been awesome but the reality is their model isn’t flexible enough for us,” Kinnaird said.
Now the Duke’s owners, who also own Charlotte’s Kitchen in Paihia, have bitten the bullet and bought their own boats.
The “fun and funky” 30-seaters with onboard toilet were last used in Auckland’s West Harbour to shuttle people between Hobsonville and the city.
However, when they proved too small they were replaced by 150-seaters and put up for sale.
Tourism firm Explore previously used them in the Bay of Islands to take day-trippers out to Urupukapuka Island.
One boat got its new livery at Bay of Islands Boatyard this week and was expected to hit the water in May.
Kinnaird said the boats would be used to transport staff and customers outside normal ferry operating hours in the morning and evening.
“It will mean our staff who live in Haruru can actually go at the right time and we won’t have to shut the restaurant.”
They could also be used to transport supplies for the restaurant, reducing freight costs from the Ōpua-Russell car ferry.
Duke of Marlborough owners Anton and Bridget Haagh, Jayne Shirley and Riki Kinnaird. Photo / Jess Burges
He didn’t see the new service taking passengers from existing ferries. Instead, he hoped it would spur greater connectivity across the Bay.
In parts of Europe, such as Italy, waterways functioned as highways allowing people to live further from their workplaces and “get to work in a nice way for the price of a cup of coffee”.
The Duke had bought two boats because they were a “two-for-one deal”, Kinnaird said.
The second could hit the water around Christmas but would likely offer a different kind of service.
The 11m fibreglass vessels, previously named Splash Palace and Belaire, were built by Calibre Boats in 2004.
Another factor in Russell’s housing shortage is the high number of properties used as holiday homes and occupied only a few weeks a year. Earlier this year Kororāreka Marae chairwoman Deb Rewiri put the proportion of unoccupied homes in the town at 70 per cent.
