After nearly forty years at the helm, Whitianga Water Transport operator David Pierpont has sold the business to local Mercury Bay resident Fred Acke and his partner Caroline.
There will be a slight increase to the casual fares but concessions will remain unchanged.
“Council owns, manages and maintains both the Ferry Landing and the Whitianga wharves and there is a cost to maintaining this infrastructure,” says Mercury Bay community board member Paul Kelly.
“Whitianga ferry fares have not been reviewed and raised for some time. Concession cards won’t increase, the price increase is only for the casual rates at this stage,” says Kelly.
Acke says that he and his partner aren’t planning on any immediate changes to the ferry service, although he has made a commitment to build a new ferry to replace the ‘Stella B’ within a year.
“She will be a 50 seater and have character, not some boring looking thing like you might find around Auckland,” he says.
Acke says it took him three years of negotiation with Pierpont to persuade him to sell the ferry service and retire.
“The poor bugger has had me on his case for the last three years, the only way he could get rid of me was to sell me the business, and it’s about time he had a Christmas off,” says Acke.
“I wonder how many times he has crossed the harbour.”
