One in five Interislander ferries were cancelled in the last year and a third of services departed late in what has been called a “horror run”.
Trucks have been stranded and holiday plans left in
disarray, with an Australian couple having to scrap their South Island trip altogether.
The ferries provide a critical link across the Cook Strait, but KiwiRail’s ageing and increasingly unreliable fleet has laid bare how fragile that connection is.
The Herald can reveal one in five sailings were cancelled in the 2022 financial year. A third departed late, meaning they did not leave within 15 minutes of their scheduled time, and a quarter of arrivals were also late.
The figures, obtained by National’s transport spokesman Simeon Brown, show it’s by far the worst year for the ferries in the last five years.
Other documents released to the Herald under the Official Information Act paint a picture of a service under pressure, which disrupted 5000 passengers with vehicles over the Easter break.
Interislander executive general manager Walter Rushbrook said it has been an “incredibly challenging” time, with the impact of Covid-19 and the Kaiarahi suffering from an unexpected catastrophic failure.
He said the reliability figures didn’t recognise the fact the majority of customers were accommodated on later sailings.
But after a year of difficulty, there is now hope on the horizon.
The Kaiarahi will resume sailings today after being out of action since August 2021 and the Interislander fleet will be back to its usual capacity in time for the summer holidays, with overseas bookings already coming through.
Holiday plans scrapped
Lee Hughes and her husband, who visited New Zealand last month from South Australia, are one of many who have had to change their plans because of the ferries.
It was the first overseas trip they’d taken since the Covid-19 outbreak.
The couple had spent two weeks road tripping around the North Island with their friends before heading to see the South Island for the first time.
After arriving in Wellington, they visited the Gallipoli: The scale of our war exhibition and were having lunch when they got an email saying their ferry sailing later that afternoon was cancelled. There was a problem with the engine ventilation system.
The pair went straight to the terminal to see whether they could rebook.
Hughes said she was told the ferry could run again two days later but even if it did, it was already fully booked for people wanting to take their vehicles across.
“We went to the other ferry [Bluebridge] and they were all booked up until the 31st of August, but said to us we could come down every night at 5.30pm to standby if we wanted to.”
In the end they decided it wasn’t worth the risk, so they retraced their steps across the North Island to do the things they hadn’t had time for like a boat cruise in Paihia and visiting Shelly Beach in the Coromandel.
“We just took it in our stride, but we were all disappointed,” Hughes said.
“We won’t be going by ferry next time. When we do go, and we hope to go in a couple of years, we will fly straight into Christchurch.”
A service under pressure
The Interislander fleet has been one ferry short after the Kaiarahi was “catastrophically” damaged and in need of European specialist assistance when its gearbox failed last year.
The decision was made to lease the Valentine, which arrived in December, to maintain the vital supply link between the North Island and South Island while the Kaiarahi was out of action.
Reports from KiwiRail to the Transport Minister this year paint a picture of a service under pressure between crew shortages, faults, delays and wild weather.
A report from March said 55 crew members had been affected by Covid-19 and it was no longer tenable to maintain a normal sailing schedule.
“We are working to prioritise urgent travel and freight movement, and now plan to maintain one return passenger sailing each day.”
Up until that point, Omicron had been managed with reasonable success through staff taking on extra shifts and moving between ships to fill gaps in crews.
Rushbrook said many staff were highly skilled and their presence was required for a ship to sail, so just one person being absent due to Covid-19 from a crew of 50 could prevent a service from going ahead.
“Our crewing team have done an amazing job just to keep our operation going and our staff have been very patient and willing to provide cover shifts while their workmates were off work because of Covid,” he said.
Later in March KiwiRail reported to the minister that 22 sailings ended up being cancelled due to the virus.
But while they were “running close” with staffing arrangements, the Interislander’s regular timetable had resumed.
The Aratere was also scheduled to go to Sydney for dry work, making for tighter but manageable capacity.
Unfortunately, the Aratere was delayed by a large storm over New South Wales and was unable to return in time for Easter weekend.
Passengers and freight were affected, including about 5000 passengers with vehicles.
Sailings were at near capacity and non-urgent freight was removed from one ferry to free up more space.
To make things worse, one of the Bluebridge ferries was also out of service during this long weekend as it too was scheduled for dry dock work.
Trucks stranded
KiwiRail also reported temporary freight constraints because not enough staff were available to run a daily service on the newly leased Valentine.
“KiwiRail met with road freight representatives to explain the issue and confirm that all booking options were being taken to maximise the use of our freight capacity … we have expressed our thanks to road freight operators for their understanding,” a report said.
Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand chief executive Nick Leggett said it has been a “horror run” for KiwiRail, with trucks stranded on either side of the Cook Strait.
“If you have a truck waiting and not delivering on time, it costs money for our industry. It also will often cost money for the customer and will slow down something happening and that directly impacts New Zealand’s productivity.”
Leggett said the most frustrated calls he received were from people transporting live animals, produce or meat.
One large carrier of perishable products Leggett has spoken to said the Valentine was “a dog” and didn’t meet the requirements of the trucking industry.
Rushbrook said the Valentine was the best one they could find under the circumstances.
“I think everyone would agree that having a ship rather than no ship at all is a good outcome. We got the ship here within three months, which is a massive job – it came all the way from Europe.”
In May, KiwiRail reported to the minister that its two remaining passenger ferries had experienced minor technical issues within the previous fortnight.
An electrical fault caused a problem with the Kaitaki’s steering gear and the Aratere had a problem with its grey water systems, which had become blocked.
The problems resulted in sailings being cancelled but all customers were able to be accommodated on alternative services.
In early July it was reported the Valentine had undergone “substantial” repairs and improvements.
The vessel was set up to carry larger lifeboats and therefore more truck drivers so that up to 75 trucks could be loaded each way if required.
Catastrophic damage
But things looked less rosy for the Kaiarahi as bearings from the US, considered critical to repairing the ferry, were delayed.
These delays were to such an extent the Interislander was left with just one passenger ship to service Cook Strait over the course of two months.
This was because the Aratere had to go back to Sydney for work that could not be completed when it was last there in April due to the raging Omicron outbreak at the time.
Then the Kaitaki was off for essential repairs and maintenance, which could not be delayed.
Aratere’s sailings were increased to three return trips every second day to help meet demand.
Rushbrook said Kaiarahi’s gearbox failure was unusual because it was designed to last the life of the vessel.
“It was highly unexpected that it should fail and we do regular maintenance on it and things like that, but to actually repair the gearbox you have to dismantle quite a bit of the engine around it and cut a hole in the deck and pull the parts of the gearbox out.”
Come September, KiwRail finally had some good news to announce.
The Kaiarahi ferry would once again be seen on the water undergoing sea trials, before returning initially as a freight-only service.
KiwiRail also announced it was purchasing the Valentine after it had become an “invaluable” addition to the fleet over the past nine months.
A big pothole in State Highway 1
National’s transport spokesman Simeon Brown said the Interislander’s unreliability over the past year was adding significant costs to businesses and people who depended on the connection.
“The current performance of the Interislander ferry service is quite frankly unacceptable and is turning the Cook Strait crossing into one of the biggest potholes in the State Highway 1 network.”
Last year KiwiRail announced a $551 million contract had been signed off for two new rail-enabled mega-ferries to service the Cook Strait.
They can carry twice as many passengers and significantly more freight to meet expected growth over the next 30 years.
Brown acknowledged this, but said the current priority should be ensuring the existing services were at least reliable and running to schedule.
Even the deal for the new ferries was a lengthy exercise of to-ing and fro-ing.
The saga, which at one point escalated to being a $1.76 billion project, ended with a stern letter from a “disappointed” Grant Robertson.
Transport Minister Michael Wood said the Interislander ferries were nearing the end of their 30-year working lives.
“Unfortunately, previous governments failed to plan for the long term, neglecting crucial infrastructure investments. Ultimately resulting in the service disruptions experienced this year.”
He said the Government has invested more than $430m to replace the fleet, with the first new ferry due in 2025.
“This once-in-a-generation investment is expected to generate significant tourism, economic and environmental benefits for the whole of New Zealand.”
Hope on the horizon
From today, the Kaiarahi will resume services for the first time in a year, Rushbrook said.
“We’re going to start at freight only, just while we finish the crew familiarisation and iron out any other glitches, and then open it up for passengers as soon as possible after that.
“So not long to go now.”
There will be four operational ferries in the fleet, when the Kaitaki returns from essential repairs and maintenance, in time for the summer holidays.
There were good candidates for the 100 extra staff needed over the peak period and bookings, especially from overseas, were coming through, Rushbrook said.
The decision to buy the Valentine provided more resilience and certainty, should something else unexpected happen, Rushbrook said.
“We spend a lot of time and effort on maintenance. The ships are getting towards the end of their serviceable life, so things may or may not go wrong with them.”
As for the two new ferries, Rushbrook said he had no concerns whatsoever that they were going to be delivered on time.
