Winston Peters sought cost of backup ferry as Kaiārahi failure exposed vulnerabilities
Monday, 27 July 2026
KiwiRail say a review into a power outage which left its Interislander ferry Kaiārahi out of action for nearly a week will be completed in two months.
In early March the outage left the ferry unable to run for five days, reducing the Cook Strait service to just one ship, the Kaitaki.
The breakdown raised alarm in the Government, with Rail Minister Winston Peters writing to the rail company’s board in March that the lack of an extra power amplifier caused real delay and disappointment.
He also asked the board to provide the cost of securing an additional ship, noting his officewas aware of freight-only vessels available in Australia and Kaiārahi’s sister ship being offered for sale.
In response, KiwiRail’s chair acknowledged the outage but stated it was uneconomic to lease another ship.
KiwiRail has launched a review into the problem, with the company confirming to The Post it is two months away from completion and is being carried out by international maritime experts DNV.
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A KiwiRail spokesperson said that for many electrical systems the standard industry practice was to upgrade the entire system and hold some inventory of selected parts.
“Following the Kaiārahi outage in March and the Minister for Rail’s request, KiwiRail initiated a review of critical electrical systems.
“The standard inventory of spares is being enhanced further to provide strengthened resilience. This work is progressing well.”
The spokesperson said the review would focus on critical electrical systems and identifying where additional inventory could further strengthen resilience.
Both the minister in his letter and a KiwiRail spokesperson acknowledged dependability onboard the Interislander had improved in recent years, with its reliability rating being 99% in the 2026 financial year so far.
In a statement, Peters said it was “right and proper” for a ferry business to have its finger on the pulse of the market in case a good deal comes up, hence his letter.
“To be clear, getting a backup ferry and crewing an empty vessel would be absolutely foolish behaviour.
“You would only seriously look at that if you’re staring at a prolonged outage, like when KiwiRail got the Valentine vessel in 2021 after the Kaiarahi suffered a gear failure and was out of service for an entire year.”
Peters said reliability of the ferries while he had held the rail portfolio contrasted sharply with the last Government’s record which he said saw the same rating reach 81% in 2021 and 83% in 2022.
Labour transport spokesperson Tangi Utikere said Finance Minister Nicola Willis put “the ferries down the gurgler” when she cancelled Labour’s iReX Cook Strait ferry plan and that Winston Peters was quietly trying to find a Plan B.
“The fact he's asking KiwiRail to price up a contingency ferry is an extraordinary admission that the Government's ferry replacement programme is nowhere near as secure as ministers have claimed.
“It's very sly of Winston Peters. After insisting a backup ship wasn't needed, he's now shopping around for an insurance policy. If everything was on track, there'd be no need for one.”
Earlier this month The Post reported on why the Interislander will be down to one ship for months.
The change stems from the retirement of the Aratere in August last year, which was taken out of service due to it not being able to berth while port upgrades were being done for the new ferries set to arrive in 2029.
Now the Cook Strait service is down to two ships - the Kaitaki and the Kaiārahi - until 2029 when their larger purpose-built replacements arrive.