Editorial: Ferry problems a Strait-out failure

The Interislander ferry Kaitaki loaded with motorhomes and under power, crossing Cook Strait. Photo / Nick Unkovich

EDITORIAL

Maritime NZ’s safety and maintenance concerns with Interislander should be shared by every New Zealander and should be top of the agenda at the KiwiRail board’s next meeting.

The Kaitaki narrowly avoided disaster in January this year when it lost power. A mayday call was issued with 864 people onboard. In the end, enough power was able to be restored for the ferry to limp back to Wellington Harbour.

This week, Maritime NZ finally detailed the concerns it held over the safety and maintenance of KiwiRail’s Interislander fleet in the months prior.

An audit after the mayday call found nine non-conformity issues at Interislander – two of which were initially potentially major – in findings KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy admitted to Government ministers was “not ideal”.

Now we are also informed by Wellington City Councillor Iona Pannett that Wellington Hospital was put on standby for mass casualties as the Cook Strait ferry Kaitaki drifted towards the rocky coastline.

If alarm horns weren’t already sounding, surely they must be now.

The UK passenger ferry industry body Discover Ferries estimates the average lifespan of a passenger ferry is around 25-30 years. The Kaitaki is a 28-year-old Dutch-built vessel, formerly known as the Isle of Innesfree. It plied the Holyhead to Dublin route until 1997 before serving out of Portsmith as well as a stint on the Kariskrona, Sweden to Gdynia, Poland route. KiwiRail leased the then-renamed Kaitaki for 10 years before buying it in May 2017.

Two new, hybrid-electric, rail-enabled ferries are scheduled to arrive next year and in 2026 as part of KiwiRail’s $1.45 billion iReX (Inter-Island Resilient Connection) project, which also includes the redevelopment of the ferry terminal precincts in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington and Waitohi Picton.

In the meantime, it is imperative that we can be assured the Cook Strait crossing is being stewarded with safety front and foremost. New Zealand ferries are highly regulated and audits are conducted regularly to ensure compliance but a drifting, unpowered passenger vessel is stark evidence that more diligence is needed.

The Maritime NZ discoveries of major non-conformity issues were kept under wraps to maintain trust between the watchdog and KiwiRail in the interests of improving safety while the ferry operator worked through them. More transparency is required to maintain the trust of the public.

The strait is an essential link between our 3.5 million population in the North Island and more than a million in the South Island. Were similar safety issues to be raised about a 93km stretch of State Highway One, potentially endangering hundreds of lives, outrage would ensue.

With a carrying capacity of up to 1650 passengers each, our Cook Strait ferries are a national concern. The potential for disaster cannot be overstated in a country where the name Wahine (51 lives lost in 1968) remains a painful scar on the heart.

Cook Strait is a challenging stretch of water, racked by extreme tidal currents, but a challenge that simply must be met by trustworthy infrastructure.