Despite concerns about the state of our naval fleet and plans to better patrol nearby waters, the Government has had to mothball plans for a new ship due to the cost crunch of the Covid response

Plans for a new NZ Navy ship capable of traversing some of the world’s roughest seas have been put on ice, with the financial pressures from the Covid-19 pandemic receiving the blame.

The NZ Defence Force had been due to present a detailed business case on its plans for a Southern Ocean patrol vessel by the end of this month, as part of wider efforts to improve New Zealand’s military capability.

However, in an update on the Government’s tenders website quietly published on March 15, the NZDF said: “Due to the impact Covid-19 has had on the fiscal environment and emerging personnel pressures from other projects, we have made the decision to defer this work.”

The ship was among the key projects outlined in the Government’s 2019 defence capability plan, at an expected cost of up to $600 million and a 2027 launch date.

“The Navy’s existing patrol capabilities are not able to meet the changing requirements of New Zealand’s maritime domain,” the document said, with existing inshore and offshore patrol vessels increasingly limited as they aged and regulations changed.

“With expectations to operate with increasing frequency in the South Pacific and the Southern Ocean, the existing vessels do not provide the optimal fleet for our maritime domain.”

A specialised patrol vessel will allow for fisheries patrols to monitor a greater area of the Southern Ocean. It would also improve the Defence Force’s ability to stay on patrol throughout the fishing season given the ability to refuel at sea, which in turn would free up the remaining offshore vessels to respond to events in the Pacific.

“In the coming years it is likely that a range of factors will lead to an increase in resource competition, impacting on access to and sustainability of marine resources in New Zealand, the Pacific, and the Southern Ocean,” the capability plan said.

“An opportunity exists for New Zealand to better support the sustainability of marine resources in the Southern Ocean and in New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone.”

“I think it’s extremely disappointing and short-sighted…it’s a capital project, I would have thought they might have had a different approach.”
– Gerry Brownlee, National MP

The ship would be used by other government agencies as well as the Defence Force, and able to support the gathering of scientific data among other operations.

Michael Swain, the Ministry of Defence’s deputy secretary of defence policy and planning, told Newsroom the project had been “deferred” rather than cancelled, and its future would be considered in the coming months.

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“Due to the impact Covid-19 has had on the fiscal environment and emerging personnel pressures from other projects, we have made the decision to defer this work,” Swain said.

However, National’s acting defence spokesman Gerry Brownlee told Newsroom the decision appeared to be a de facto cancellation of the project.

“I think it’s extremely disappointing and short-sighted…it’s a capital project, I would have thought they might have had a different approach.”

An ice-strengthened vessel would have been able to go deeper into the Southern Ocean and better support the Defence Force’s work, Brownlee said.

Defence Minister Peeni Henare told Newsroom the ministry had informed him of its decision to defer work on the Southern Ocean patrol vessel and he remained committed to a Defence Force that could “operate effectively across the full range of its requirements”.

“Our ability to operate in the Southern Ocean remains a priority for this Government and we will continue to monitor our strategic interests in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica.”

Henare cited the military's work in Antarctica, Afghanistan, the Pacific and at MIQ facilities as an example of its capabilities.

“We can all take pride in their efforts,” he said.

The project’s deferral came as the NZDF separately announced the sale of two decommissioned inshore patrol vessels to Ireland’s Department of Defence.

The ships were being sold for $36m, with up to $19m of modification and refurbishment work taking place in New Zealand beforehand as a condition of the sale.

“Our Navy has a greater need to project a presence further afield and that's something the inshore patrol vessels simply weren't built to do,” Navy chief Rear Admiral David Proctor said, with the planned Southern Ocean vessel – along with two current offshore patrol ships – cited as providing for better capability.