Govt ‘committed to new ships’ - transport minister

Saturday, 22 June 2024

Kiwirail’s “number one job is to maintain ferries” says transport minister Simeon Brown, speaking in Picton this afternoon following the grounding of Interislander ferry Aratere on Friday night.

In an apparent swipe at the organisation, he said similar ferries were used elsewhere in the world.

Brown also defended the coalition government’s decision to axe orders for new ferries after significant cost blow-outs but said it remained committed to the resilience of the Cook Strait connection. He said a report on replacement options for the Cook Strait ferries was delivered in the past week and ministers would consider it shortly.

Meanwhile, KiwiRail is consulting with global experts to try and work out how to recover the grounded Aratere, after efforts this morning to refloat it were paused for high tide tonight.

KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy and general manager Duncan Roy fronted a press conference in Picton this afternoon, shortly after eight passengers and some crew who were trapped aboard the ferry overnight made it back to Picton Marina.

The refloating has been delayed until tonight’s high tide at about 9pm to allow more time to prepare the ship and make use of a higher tide. Eight passengers and 12 of the crew have disembarked.

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Reidy said shortly after leaving Picton at 9.45pm yesterday the ferry “as it was moving …for some reason, we’re yet to determine, it went to the right, starboard, and had a slow grounding.”

The ferry had been travelling at 3 knots and was stable, nestled into sand.

“It’s not jagged rocks. It’s sand and mud.”

A truck driver on board, Heath Harper, had just sat down for dinner when he said the ship started to “jolt a bit”.

“I thought that feels a bit like the Canterbury earthquake and it kept going and going and then it just boom, came to a stop.

“That’s when we went outside and realised that we’d hit land.”

Despite the grounding, Harper said spirits remained upbeat on board.

Reidy and Roy said the ferry had recently undergone proactive maintenance work, refuting a suggestion there was a known issue with steering and said they were “disappointed” given the “amount of maintenance work” it had undergone.

Roy explained that the Aratere had a scheduled wet dock in Wellington in May which included a replacement of its steering control system and was tested before returning to service. He said it was too early to comment on the potential cause of the grounding.

KiwiRail would now use all the assets it could, working with technical experts, to work towards refloating tonight.

“Our total focus right now is to recover that ferry,” said Reidy.

The crew and passengers had been in good spirits, he said.

The sailing was freight-only, with eight commercial drivers and 39 crew aboard. It’s grounded approximately 2.8km north of Picton. Maritime NZ said there was no water ingress and no oil going into the marine environment.

Marlborough District Council mayor Nadine Taylor earlier explained the reasons the refloat had been halted.

“IThey want to gather a little bit more information, they want to make a better informed decision when they do come to attempt to refloat,” Taylor said.

“[They] want to take some observations of the vessel going through this high tide, and [are] putting some divers in the water to have a very good look at it in the daylight. Divers went in the water through the night to have a look but they want to have another scan through the daylight just to observe where the hull is sitting and settled.

“I think it’s a very prudent response. The vessel is secure where it is, it’s safe where it is, there is no need at all to rush to move the Aratere off. The important thing is that when they do attempt to refloat it is done with the most information that they can have on hand and that will mean it is done as safely as possible.”

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission has launched an investigation.

Guardians of the Sounds chairman Peter Beech is on his boat beside the ferry, not far from Mabel Island.

“It’s lucky it didn’t happen quarter of a mile the other way, or it would have blocked the whole harbour, and lucky that it happened in the inner Sounds, and not out in Tory Channel,” he said.

“She’s well up the beach… It’ll take a bit of getting off. If these [tugs] aren’t capable of pulling it off they will need to get a big tug down from New Plymouth to do the business I guess and that could take a day to get down here.”

Interislander was working closely with the relevant authorities.

Inquiry needed

Richard Wagstaff, president of the Council of Trade Unions, called for an urgent review of the decision to cancel the order for replacement ferries. “The replacement ships from Korea could have been here from next year.”

He said $15 billion worth of cargo was carried each year by the Interislander. “It's in everyone’s interest to make sure that the service is seaworthy.

“In 2023, the Kaitaki lost all power with more than 800 passengers on board. Now the Aratere is grounded in Picton.

“These are ageing ships … It's beyond time that they were replaced with safe and efficient ferries.”

Wagstaff also called for a “thorough investigation” into the Picton grounding which was “a warning that without further investment, lives and our economic security will be put at risk”.

Hans Versteegh, from the Marlborough harbourmaster’s office, expressed doubt that the ship could be refloated, even at high tide. If it could not be floated, the next stages would become much harder, he confirmed.

A photographer at the scene, Anthony Phelps, said two tugs were alongside the Aratere. It had been a nice calm morning with no wind. A group of onlookers had gathered to watch.

Photos on social media last night showed those on board wearing life jackets, with the ferry sitting still in Pine Bay.

Fewer than two weeks ago, the Interislander general manager confirmed the Aratere was having issues.

'As part of condition-based monitoring on Aratere, a gearbox part was found to be in need of replacement. During our regular maintenance cycle, vibrational analysis picked up an unusual vibration in Aratere’s gearbox.'

The issue was confirmed to be a broken pin in a gearbox and a spare part was going to take eight weeks to arrive.

This meant a used replacement, age unknown, was fitted in the meantime and the ship was having to take a safer route via the Queen Charlotte Sounds entrance. This added an hour to the journey.