Let’s buy a secondhand tug now

Re: Close calls spark ‘urgent advice’ over rescue tug (June 6), it is hard to believe that ‘‘urgent advice’’ is called for.

The government has been advised for years by experts, including a report in 2018 by Greater Wellington Regional Council strongly recommending that an ocean-going tug was needed, and we have had two close calls this year.

With climate change we could be on the receiving end of more violent weather, and Cook Strait is notorious for rough seas.

We need such a tug now. It is plain commonsense. Why can’t the prime minister or the appropriate minister show some leadership and make the decision now?

I understand that a new tug is on order but years away, so let’s look urgently for a suitable secondhand tug from somewhere in the world in the meantime to bring our harbour and Cook Strait safety standards up to what they should be.

When the new tug does appear, the secondhand tug – which could have saved lives and ships in the meantime – wouldn’t go amiss somewhere in NZ, or if preferred, could be on-sold again.

Brian Tester, Paraparaumu Beach