Wellington's Interislander ferries. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Sickness has forced Interislander to call off some of its sailings as new figures show an uptick in cancellations because of crew availability.
The 3.45pm and 8.35pm sailings on Aratere were cancelled from April 21 through to today due to crew illness.
Interislander apologised on its website for the disruption and advised passengers there was space available on other sailings.
Figures obtained by the National Party show 10 per cent of cancelled sailings in February were due to crew availability, compared to none being affected by this issue during the same month last year.
In January it was 6 per cent of cancelled sailings and in March it was 5 per cent, compared with 1 per cent and 3 per cent respectively during the same months in 2022.
Interislander operations general manager Duncan Roy said crew shortages accounted for a relatively small proportion of cancelled sailings.
The figures included sailings which were cancelled so crew members could be moved to sailings on other ships, he said.
“For example, this shows up in the percentage of cancelled sailings in February 2023, where Valentine sailings were cancelled to free up staff to allow for additional runs by our passenger ferries. This helped clear the passenger backlog caused by disruptions to Kaitaki sailings.”
Valentine is a freight-only ship and Kaitaki did not take passengers during February after the ferry lost power in Cook Strait, drifted towards Wellington’s south coast and declared a mayday call.
Roy said these Valentine sailings still counted as being cancelled due to crewing requirements because they were removed from the master timetable, which can be set months in advance.
Ships also required staff with specific skills and have to be crewed to mandated levels, he said.
“If there are not enough employees available with one of the specific skills required, we reluctantly have to cancel sailings.”
Illness and recruitment issues could both affect the availability of crew, Roy said.
Earlier this month, the Government announced deckhands and skippers were being added to a transport sector agreement designed to give bus and truck drivers access to a time-limited, two-year residence pathway.
That meant four out of five occupations KiwiRail wanted on the immigration Green List for its beleaguered ferries had a work-to-residence pathway.
Roy said while Interislander’s preference was to recruit locally, the Government’s announcement opened up options.
National’s transport spokesman Simeon Brown said the figures showed workforce constraints have affected Interislander’s lack of reliability.
Brown said the Government had not adjusted immigration settings quickly enough and it was important there was now no delay to visa processing.
“Michael Wood is quick to blame the age of the ferries, but he must take responsibility for his role as Minister of Immigration and the impact his immigration policies have been having on the reliability of the Interislander service.”
Wood has previously said the biggest issue facing Interislander’s ageing fleet is years of deferred investment by the previous National-led Government.
“Recent reliability issues are purely a result of this issue, not workforce availability.”
The Government has invested $430 million in two new mega-ferries to replace the Interislander fleet, with the first one expected to arrive in 2025, Wood said.
“Construction for these vessels [is] well under way with Korea’s Hyundai Mipo Dockyard. Consents have also been issued for the construction of the new terminal buildings,” Wood said.
Wood’s office noted that two of the roles KiwiRail wanted on the Green List have had a residence pathway since borders reopened.
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