Interislander emails customers about Aratere faults and fixes on day it runs aground

Saturday, 22 June 2024

The Interislander Ferry, Aratere, recently underwent an upgrade to its steering system.

An Interislander commercial customers email sent on Friday talked about the upgrade.

Interislander said the vessel ran aground after suffering a “steering failure”.

The grounded Aratere ferry recently underwent an upgrade to its steering system, an Interislander email sent to commercial customers said.

The email was received by customers on the same day the ferry got stuck shortly after leaving Picton at 9.45pm Friday.

In the first hours of the incident, Interislander executive general manager Duncan Roy made a statement saying the ferry had suffered a “steering failure”.

The email, seen by Stuff, said it was great to have the ferry back in service “following an upgrade to the steering system during the ship’s wet dock last month”.

“Like all system upgrades where new software is meshed with existing mechanical systems it was not without its challenges with plenty of unknowns. Our software experts needed to run several patches to get the system working exactly as it should.

“Thank you all for your patience during this time. We learned some lessons for our upcoming maintenance programmes. In particular - to communicate early and clearly about our planned maintenance programme and to communicate project milestones, being clearer about when we will be certain about a return to service.”

The email said that several times they thought “we were there”, but found further tweaks were needed after final testing protocols.

“We know that was hugely disruptive for your businesses. We know we need to do better to enable you to plan with certainty for your customers.Thanks again for sticking with as we got this piece of work done - an important investment for Aratere’s future.”

Gearbox fault identified

The email also said during a recent check staff had found an issue with a part in one of Aratere’s gearboxes.

“Upon further inspection, we discovered a crack in the gear.

“We’ve ordered a new custom-made part from Germany, which is expected to arrive in early August 2024, the email said.

“In the meantime, we’ve made adjustments to ensure the vessel can continue operating safely.

“We are continuing to provide service through the Northern Entrance. This does add up to sixty minutes to the sailing.”

Speaking to media at a press conference on Saturday, Roy and KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy confirmed they had upgraded “a number of systems” on Aratere as part of a “detailed maintenance programme” about three weeks ago.

“We pre-emptively replaced the steering mechanism with a brand new system, we brought in experts from overseas and that was part of our commitment to improving the maintenance and reliability of the ferries.'

Reidy said with the amount of maintenance work that had been done they were “very disappointed”.

“It's serious that a ship ground itself.'

'We have spend significant money and time recently in upgrading the steering system,' he said.

Investigation to follow

The sailing was freight-only, with eight commercial drivers and 39 crew aboard. The ship has power and supplies. Nobody was injured.

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission has launched an investigation.

“We are working closely with Port Marlborough, the Harbourmaster and the relevant authorities. Passengers who were due to sail on Aratere today are being accommodated on alternative sailings. The incident will be fully investigated,” said Roy.

Passengers and crew remained onboard for the night, and in a statement Saturday morning Roy said the plan was still to refloat the ferry at high tide, just after 9am.

In a statement, Interislander Executive General Manager Duncan Roy said the company will undertake a full investigation into the grounding, saying it was too “early to comment on the potential cause“.

“The Aratere had a scheduled wet dock in Wellington, starting on 11 May. It returned to service on 30 May. The wet dock included a pre-emptive replacement of the ferry’s steering control system,” he said.

“At the time of commissioning the software required some modification, which was carried out by the system’s manufacturers before testing, multiple sign-offs and a staged return to service.”

Why refloating plan was delayed

Marlborough Mayor Nadine Taylor said the initial plan to refloat the ferry at 9am had been abandoned.

“They want to gather a little bit more information, they want to make a better informed decision when they do come to attempt to refloat,” she said.

“I think it’s a very prudent response. The vessel is secure where it is, it’s safe where it is, that there is no need at all to rush to move the Aratere off. The important thing is that when they do attempt to refloat it is done with the most information that they can have on hand and that will mean it is done as safely as possible.”

Early on Saturday Nelson MP Rachel Boyack said on social media she was with the Maritime Union at Picton and the plan had been to tow the ship at high tide.

However, Hans Versteegh, from the Marlborough harbourmaster’s office, had expressed doubt, saying it had not been clear if the ship could be refloated - even at high tide.

If it could not be floated, the next stages would become much harder, he confirmed.

Minister for Transport Simeon Brown said on social media on Friday night that he had been advised there was no indication of injuries, danger to life or danger of oil pollution to the marine environment.

“The vessel is watertight. Both KiwiRail and Maritime NZ are actively dealing with the situation.”