KiwiRail investigates options to boost ferry capacity

Monday, 30 June 2025

As one of Wellington’s ferries temporarily travels to Singapore, the fleet operator KiwiRail says it’s working on options to expand passenger capacity on its two remaining vessels.

It comes as summer sailings continue to be booked at pace, with some sailing times for the upcoming December only offering a few spots left for vehicles.

On Monday the Kaiārahi departs for Singapore for dry dock maintenance. It will return in mid to late August.

This leaves the Kaitaki and Aratere vessels available for use over that period. However, when Kaiārahi returns, Aratere will be retired.

One possible option to increase passenger numbers carried on the ferries is to increase Kaitaki’s maximum capacity.

The current maximum number of people on board is 1000, however its capacity is 1350.

This is because KiwiRail converted some open seating areas into a premium lounge and additional cabins when it brought the vessel to New Zealand in 1999.

But increasing the muster would require additional equipment and crew, according to a KiwiRail spokesperson. Any increase would also need approval from regulator Maritime NZ.

“We are continuing to work on options to further expand passenger capacity at peak times, but no decisions have been made at this stage,” the KiwiRail spokesperson said.

KiwiRail said it would be monitoring bookings for peak times and if justified, it had the option of increasing Kaitaki’s passenger numbers.

In January this year KiwiRail added 129 airline-style seats to Kaiārahi, which allows it to increase the maximum passenger numbers on that vessel to 550, if required.

Because of the move to a two-vessel fleet, there will be a reduction in the number of sailings, Duncan Roy, Interislander executive general manager, said previously.

However, overall passenger capacity was reducing only by 3% overall, he said.

KiwiRail has also reconfigured the lane space, to make more space for passenger vehicles during peak periods.

KiwiRail said when it moved down to two vessels, more people would need to travel outside of peak times - in the afternoon and the early evening - during which use has traditionally been low.

The transition timetable has been in place for several weeks and all booking changes for affected passengers have been completed.

Passenger vehicle bookings across December to February are slightly up on last year’s levels.

KiwiRail recommended those planning to travel with cars over the peak summer period book early.

Interislander’s fleet of three ships are all aged between 26 and 30 years and have suffered a series of high-profile incidents, including the Kaitaki triggering a full mayday response when it lost power with 864 people aboard in 2023, the grounding of the Aratere in 2024, then a June 2025 outage on the same ferry.