Interislander’s sole rail-enabled ferry Aratere will be retired this year to make way for required Picton port re-development in preparation for the two brand-new Cook Strait ferries arriving in 2029.
KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy said work to demolish Aratere’s decaying wharf in Picton could begin later this year or early next year.
“Therefore, Aratere will be retired this year, and we will work through the detail of that decision.”
The ferry, which had served the Cook Strait since 1999, required specific loading and unloading infrastructure so it could not use the other Interislander wharf in Picton.
Reidy said building a temporary berth for Aratere would be too expensive in a project where tight cost control was a priority and that it risked delaying the necessary infrastructure work in Picton.
KiwiRail would use road-bridging on the Kaitaki and Kaiārahi to continue the movement of freight in the interim until the new ships arrived.
“We will invest to super-charge this operation to ensure that all rail freight will be serviced at the levels our rail freight customers need and expect”, Reidy said.
He added that Aratere was due to leave Wellington for dry dock in Singapore in late June, but this was now under review.
“We will work quickly to give our people, passengers and freight customers certainty as soon as possible.”
Govt not keeping Aratere ‘for the sake of it’ — Peters
Minister for Rail Winston Peters said he had been briefed on how KiwiRail would manage crossings after Aratere was retired.
“Goods will still get from A to B by shifting freight on to the Kaitaki and Kaiārahi, making use of coastal shipping for some heavy freight such as grain, and adapting their rail and ferry schedules to best suit the market.
“Passengers will still have capacity, and we may see some evening sailings being busier than normal around Christmas and Easter.”
Peters said keeping the Aratere running would have cost around $120 million.
“We will not waste one tax dollar on shuffling infrastructure to keep the vessel in service for the sake of it or add any infrastructure risk to our objective of completion in 2029.
“Under iReX, a whole temporary operation was to be built at taxpayers’ expense only to knock it down when permanent infrastructure was built, plus ‘Taj Mahal’ terminal buildings and expensive works across the wider yards in Wellington and Picton.”
‘The loss of some roles’
The Aratere would be decommissioned following a consultation process.
Peters said KiwiRail had advised him that voluntary redundancies would be offered across the wider Interislander team and redeployment opportunities would be sought.
Reidy said: “Moving from three ships to two will mean the loss of some roles but the exact number will depend on the outcome of a consultation process that we will run with our people across Interislander,”
Peters revealed at the end of March that two new Cook Strait ferries would enter service in 2029 with rail decks and the capacity for 40 wagons.
He said the package would be cheaper than the previous government’s plan with a “minimum viable and maximum reuse approach for the port infrastructure”.
Contracts to build the ships would be fully locked down by the end of the year, he added.
The Rail Minister said: “Our solution will be markedly cheaper than the cancelled $3.1 billion programme and the $4 billion warning the previous government received. That’s because of a minimum viable and maximum reuse approach for the port infrastructure.”
The new ferries would be approximately 200m long and 28m wide, with capacity for 1500 passengers and 2.4km of lanes for cars, trucks, and 40 rail wagons each.
“The future Interislander ferries will have road and rail decks, given the efficiency of single shunt movements for multiple rail wagons for loading and unloading,” Peters said.
“The design specifications chosen include vessel lengths of approximately 200m — longer and wider than the current fleet and capable of serving our people and goods into the future, but shorter than the large ferries ordered in 2021 which created significant infrastructure issues.”
The coalition Government cancelled the previous Labour government’s plans to build new ferries in South Korea over budget estimate blowouts after entering office in late 2023.
The beached ferry and other incidents
The Picton Habour tugs played a key role in refloating the ferry after it ran aground on Friday night. (Source: 1News)
The Aratere made headlines in June last year when it beached in Titoki Bay shortly after leaving Picton.
Steering autopilot had been engaged and staff had been unable to switch it off, an investigation found.
No-one was injured and the vessel was refloated two days afterwards, with damage to its bow that required repair.
In February 1999, soon after entering service, Aratere passed Point Halswell in Wellington Harbour en route to Picton when it suffered several power failures that left it adrift.
The emergency backup generator also failed, according to a Transport Accident Investigation Commission report.
Aratere collided with a fishing vessel while docking in Wellington in July 2003.
Three crew were on board the San Domenico and narrowly made it to safety when the 183 metre vessel struck, causing extensive damage to the smaller boat and Aotea Quay.
In September 2004, in the space of less than a month, the ship came within 80 to 90 metres of grounding itself on a rock in the Tory Channel and cut off the ferry Kent while both were entering Wellington Harbour.
Four passengers and one crew member suffered minor injuries in March 2006 after heavy weather caused some of the rail and vehicular cargo aboard the Aratere to shift.
This resulted in the Aratere developing a list of about 5 degrees to starboard, which the crew could not reduce until the ship arrived in Picton.
TAIC concluded that although the ship’s safety was “unlikely to be compromised”, the suddenness and extent of the rolls were “uncomfortable” for those on board.
A fatigue fracture caused the Aratere’s starboard propeller to break off during a sailing in November 2013.
The ship was able to complete the trip to Wellington with 153 passengers and crew aboard using just its port propulsion system.
An electrical fault caused the Aratere to briefly break down in the Cook Strait and drift while en route to Picton in February 2023.
