New NZ Inter-island ferries planned

New ferries for the much criticised Cook Strait crossing in NZ is planned for 2023-24:


Which shipyard that will get the contract is not yet known.

New Zealand Rail is not really a innovative and forward looking company and it is not before time that they ordered new tonnage.
The problem is Cook Strait is about 140 metres deep in the mliddle and crossing the strait you cross from the Pacific plate to the Australian Plate and one is subducting under the other causing constant earthquakes, mostly small but the big one is not if but when.
Being in a train under the Strait is not where I want to be nor on a bridge.