Aratere: Minimal Damage Found So Far On Grounded Interislander Ferry

Sunday, 23 June 2024, 5:49 pm
Article: RNZ

The Aratere ferry will limp back to the dock in Picton today after being refloated from where it ran aground in Picton Harbour, as environmental monitoring of the incident begins.

The Interislander vessel lost its steering and ran aground near the port on Friday and was refloated on Saturday night. Ferry operator Interislander says an investigation into what happened is continuing, but first inspections showed there may be little damage to the ship.

Marlborough Mayor Nadine Taylor said once the ship is docked and the immediate response is over, coastal scientists will start carrying out environmental surveys to record any impact to the area.

"Oil spill booms will be placed around the Aratere once docked as a precautionary measure to ensure any environmental risk is mitigated," she said.

The mayor also thanked everyone who had been involved in the large multi-agency operation to respond to the grounded ship and to refloat the ferry, including the harbourmaster, emergency services, civil defence and emergency management, a team from Nautical and Coastal, a team from Port Marlborough, Maritime New Zealand, the Coastguard and a council team.

"The speed of the response on site on Friday night is to be commended and many stayed throughout the night to assist. This response was a team effort of professional and capable mariners and emergency responders who have achieved a wonderful outcome," Taylor said.

"Council has particularly appreciated the close working relationship with Port Marlborough as part of the response effort and the use of the two tugs that proved they really could - the Maungatea and Monowai."

Interislander executive general manager Duncan Roy said on Sunday morning divers had checked the hull and found it was still water-tight, and there appeared to be minimal damage to the vessel.

But an in-depth look at the state of the 26-year-old vessel was yet to be undertaken.

"The report from the people on the ship is they've tested the tanks, the divers have tested the hull and its operation."

Roy said the Transport Accident Investigation Commission and Maritime New Zealand will start investigating onboard the Aratere once it was returned to Picton.

KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy, appearing with Roy, thanked everyone involved in the refloating for their "significant effort".

Roy said it was a "very complex operation" and "humbling" to see how well the crew and experts did.

"Really, really impressive… one we were happy to resolve in 24 hours."

The Interislander team was currently working to find arrangements for passengers who had trips booked on the Aratere. One silver lining was the accident happened in a "low season" for bookings.

Some would be offered trips on the 29-year-old Kaitaki, or "alternative arrangements" would be found, Roy said, potentially by working with rival commercial ferry operator Bluebridge.

Another Interislander ferry, the 26-year-old Kaiarahi, would be back in service on 3 July. Only one ferry, Kaitaki, was operating in the meantime. Roy said Kaitaki had been operating with "100 percent reliability" of late.

Just days before the Aratere's accident, Transport Minister Simeon Brown raised concerns about KiwiRail's maintenance of its fleet at a meeting of the transport and infrastructure committee.

"We also want KiwiRail to make sure they're maintaining their existing boats to the appropriate standards, which has been a significant issue that we've been highly unimpressed with coming into government."

KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy did not want to comment directly on the minister's claims, but defended the Interislander's recent record.

"I'm incredibly proud - the last 18 months there's been a very big investment programme. You can see the ships in the dry docks, a big lift in capability. The last nine months we've had 99.6 percent reliability, on-time performance 92 percent - that is higher than global airlines. So we are very disappointed about what's happened in the last 24 hours.

"We'll do the work, we'll do the investigation, but we're very proud about what Duncan and the team have done to lift the performance of these ships… I'd take my own family on those ships right now."

Reidy said he had a "very frank" conversation with the transport minister on Saturday night, during which the minister praised the successful refloating of the Aratere.

Roy said the Aratere had just been upgraded with a new steering system, seven kilometres of cabling, and a "new automated approach".

"The original steering system was coming into obsolescence and there wasn't enough repair parts in the industry that we were happy with. So we made the decision to pre-emptively replace that with a new, state-of-the-art system which we brought in with international partners."

He said the "comprehensive investigation" into the cause of the accident would include examining that new steering system to see if it was at fault.

Asked if they had a potential timeframe for the Aratere to be back in service, Roy said "no", saying they would wait for the investigation and they they would "have the facts".

Late last year, the government canned the Inter-Island Resilient Connection (iReX) project - which included two brand-new ferries - due to its budget blowing out from $1.45 billion in 2021 to $2.6 billion in 2023.

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions on Sunday said it was "beyond time" the fleet, each nearing three decades old, was replaced.

NZCTU president Richard Wagstaff said incidents like the Aratere grounding put people's lives at risk, and the government needs to prioritise a solution to the ageing ferry fleet.

"Fifteen billion dollars of cargo is carried annually by the Interislander - it's in everyone's interest to make sure that the service is seaworthy.

"The decision to cancel the replacement ferries should be urgently reviewed in light of the developments overnight. The replacement ships from Korea could have been here from next year. "

He linked the accident to the recent falling of a pylon, which cut power off to Northland earlier this week.

"Yet investment by government in infrastructure will fall every year under the new Budget. The priorities of this government are all wrong."

Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop recently said he wanted to see more public-private partnerships to fund new builds, rather than taxpayer and ratepayer money alone.

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