24 February 2011

The Cook Strait ferry Aratere will not be leaving for a re-fit in Singapore in mid-March as planned, and KiwiRail's Board agreed today (Thursday February 24, 2011) to delay the re-fit departure until after Easter.

Interislander general manager Thomas Davis said the Aratere had been scheduled to leave New Zealand on March 14 for a re-fit in Singapore, that would see the ship cut in half and an extra 30 metre-long mid-body inserted and a new bow installed.

"Our experience after the earlier earthquake last September was that a lot of extra freight and passengers needed to move across Cook Strait for sometime afterwards. The tragic and catastrophic events of Tuesday's earthquake in Christchurch has emphasised how much we need to have all three Interislander ferries operating at full strength. It would be the wrong thing to reduce capacity to carry people and freight across Cook Strait at this time."

He said Interislander had a lot of passengers and freight booked up till Easter, and the earthquake aftermath would exacerbate that. “We need to provide full service.”

Mr Davis said Aratere would stay in service till Easter now, and Interislander was exploring options to ensure there would be adequate freight and passenger capacity on the Cook Strait.

"The entire KiwiRail organisation is working to ensure that everything can reach the people in Christchurch as soon as possible in this time of great need."

Mr Davis thanked his staff, the crews of the three ferries, and the Picton and Wellington terminal workers who had worked well in planning for Aratere's departure, and who were now coping with extra stress.

ENDS

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