Welded, tested and broken down: Interislander woes continue

Thursday, 12 June 2025

One about to retire. Another with its damaged bow door welded shut. And another off for checks – The ageing Cook Strait Interislander fleet is not amid its best run.

The Aratere, the only rail-enabled Cook Strait ferry, is about to retire but had one-last mishap with an outage on Wednesday night near Picton. While it had to anchor in place for nearly four hours for repairs, a statement from Interislander said there was “no risk” as there was safe propulsion power available.

The 6.15am sailing on Thursday from Wellington to Picton and the 11 return were cancelled. Interislander later on Thursday also cancelled the 4pm sailing from Wellington.

Interislander also confirmed an issue, raised by the Maritime Union, with another of its ferries, the Kaiārahi, which suffered bow door damage in large waves off Sinclair Head on Wellington’s south Coast on Saturday. The bow doors were welded shut afterwards and the ship would soon return to service.

The ship is due on dry dock in Singapore from June 28 to August 18.

Meanwhile, the Kaitaki is having to pass its Maritime NZ Passenger Ship Safety Certificate this weekend.

Maritime Union national secretary Carl Findlay said his members were well trained but he had concerns for his members on the ailing Interislander fleet.

“We have been concerned for 18 months,” he said of Finance Minister Nicola Willis’s call to cancel an order for two new ferries soon after becoming Government.

“We would have had a new vessel coming around the corner,” Findlay said.

KiwiRail, which runs Interislander, have been asked to confirm the Kaiarahi bow damage and that the door was being welded shut.

Rail Minister Winston Peters recently announced two new rail-enabled ferries would arrive in 2029.

Meanwhile, Wellington harbour master Grant Nalder confirmed the Aratere had an issue soon after leaving port in Picton at 8.50pm on Wednesday. It dropped anchors while the issue was fixed and got under way to Wellington about 12.30am on Thursday via the longer but safer Queen Charlotte Sound route.

No tugs were needed and the location meant local harbour tugs would have been able to help if needed but Nalder confirmed the new Cook Strait rescue vessel was away doing work in Taranaki.

After a series of Cook Strait maritime near-disasters ‒ most notably a mayday and full emergency response when the near-capacity Kaitaki lost all power in Cook Strait ‒ it was revealed that the Cook Strait area no longer had a rescue tug able to save large ships in open water.

Transport Minister Chris Bishop in April announced the Government was looking at next steps in getting a rescue vessel and had contracted anchor handling tug supply vessel – the MMA Vision – to provide assurance in the meantime.

The Vision deal meant that, until July 2026, it would stay in New Zealand and supply rescue capability.

“The vessel will be stationed in the vicinity of Wellington Harbour or the Marlborough Sounds when not engaged in its primary operational activity in Taranaki,” a Maritime NZ newsletter said.

Nalder on Thursday said that, if Wednesday’s breakdown had required the Vision, conversations would have started about freeing it from its Taranaki work.

A statement from Maritime NZ said it would be talking to Interislander about what happened with the Aratere and to check appropriate measures were in place to stop a recurrence before deciding if further action was needed. There was a provision in the MMA Vision contract to call it in to help if needed.

In June 2024, the Aratere ran aground soon after leaving Picton after an autopilot error. It was eventually towed back to water.