KiwiRail has confirmed the Aratere ferry will resume sailing from this afternoon after it was damaged while the boat was berthing in Wellington on Thursday.
A spokesperson told 1News the ferry would sail to Picton at 4.30pm on Saturday.
“We appreciate our passenger’s patience while we completed the repairs.”
The incident, which is now under investigation, involved the ferry making contact with a link span in Wellington.
There was damage to the hull of the vessel “well above the waterline” and to the link span that allows vehicles to access the vessel.
At the time, 146 people were aboard but there were no injuries.
Passengers were delayed by 40 minutes while the situation was assessed.
The latest incident capped years of trouble for the Aratere. The Interislander ferry ran aground on June 21 just north of Picton while on a freight-only sailing.
