Just when you thought it could not get any sillier, Phil Goff who needs to spend money on stopping the sewage polluting Auckland beaches, proudly announces that they will spend $18 million on a battery-powered tug boat for Ports of Auckland. Watch the video here. Auckland ratepayers must be so proud.
Gems from the video include.
- It will run for 4 hours on a charge.
- It will have diesel generators but they will not need them *. (They say)
- It will need a charging station wharf to be built.
- It will cost about twice as much as the $9 million tug recently purchased by Port Nelson.
- Ports of Auckland are going to have zero carbon emissions by 2040.
- Auckland Council says it is the beginning of a greener future.
- It is the tugs now, it will be the ferries in the future
But the pearler was Phil Goff’s statement:
Over the life of the vessel we’ll save about $2.5 million, so yes the capital cost upfront is more, but the cost of operating it is a fraction of operating a diesel tug.
With that financial expertise at the top, it is no wonder that Auckland City has borrowed to the limit and has no money for necessary infrastructure upgrades.
The capital cost is stated to be twice a normal tug which are around $9 million, i.e $18 million. But, according to the financial genius at the top, it will pay off the higher upfront cost by saving $2.5 million over the working life of the tug.
The great thing is though, if Greta ever needs to visit New Zealand, they will be able to use the tug to go and pick her up from Sweden. (They will only need to stop and charge every four hours or so.)
*On Backchat, GregM had some interesting extra information not mentioned on the TVNZ report.
It will also have two 1000kW back-up generators for safety. A 1000kw diesel generator set looks like this, and this electric tug will have two for “safety reasons”, anyone else spot the sheer idiocy of their cunning plan?
1,000,000 watts and the tug will have two. Powered by dirty great Caterpillar V12 diesel engines.