The area has also regularly been explored as a potential location for an interisland ferry terminal connected to Wellington, but this has never progressed to construction.

In 1997, the then operator of the Interisland Line, Tranz Rail, proposed a new ferry terminal be built at Clifford Bay.

[1] In May 2011, plans were announced to revisit the development of a port at Clifford Bay, using a mix of private and public funding.

It would also allow ferries to operate at higher speeds than they can in the ecologically sensitive Marlborough Sounds and remove the steep grades on the Main North Line between Blenheim and Picton.

[3] In November 2013, then-Minister of Transport Gerry Brownlee announced that the Government would not be building a new port at Clifford Bay, putting an end to two years of speculation.