Speed limit removes fast ferry's advantage

Cook Strait's fast-ferry service is reported to be facing the axe.

With Marlborough Sounds speed restrictions slashing the Lynx's commercial advantage, Wellington's Dominion Post newspaper quotes industry sources as saying the ferry service is likely to be scrapped after Easter.

An 18-knot (33km/h) speed restriction in the Marlborough Sounds, imposed to reduce damage from the wash, means the Lynx makes the crossing in two-and-a-quarter hours - just 45 minutes faster than the conventional ferries Aratere and Arahura.