Maritime Union statement on grounding of Aratere

The Mari­time Uni­on says images of the stricken Cook Strait ferry Aratere aground in the Marl­bor­ough Sounds are a shock­ing con­clu­sion to years of warn­ings about the age­ing ferry fleet.

The Aratere ran aground after a steer­ing fail­ure around 10pm last night Fri­day 21 June at Titoko Bay (Pine Bay), shortly after depart­ing from Pic­ton.

It was a freight-only sail­ing with eight com­mer­cial vehicle drivers and 39 crew on board.    

Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Carl Find­lay says a num­ber of Mari­time Uni­on mem­bers are amongst the crew.

He says Mari­time Uni­on offi­cials and del­eg­ates had been in com­mu­nic­a­tion with crew mem­bers aboard the Aratere and there were no injur­ies.

“The ferry crews are exper­i­enced pro­fes­sion­als and will be doing their jobs even in these extraordin­ary con­di­tions, but of course we are con­cerned they have been placed in danger.”

Mr Find­lay says it will be a dif­fi­cult and com­plex oper­a­tion refloat­ing the ves­sel and it was unclear when this would now hap­pen. The Uni­on was going to be briefed by Inter­is­lander man­age­ment later today.

He says if the steer­ing had failed on the Aratere dur­ing bad weath­er, or when the ship was in the Cook Strait, the out­come could have been dis­astrous.

“The Inter­is­lander fer­ries are at end of life, and there have been repeated incid­ents, such as the loss of power on the Kaitaki last year.”

Mr Find­lay says New Zea­l­and has to have mod­ern, fit for pur­pose Cook Strait fer­ries.

He says the Gov­ern­ment had made a massive error can­cel­ling the iRex pro­ject, which not only threatened the trans­port net­work but the safety and well­being of crew and pas­sen­gers.

“If this incid­ent does not shake the Gov­ern­ment out of its com­pla­cency about the need for invest­ment in new ves­sels and infra­struc­ture, what will it take?”

Mr Find­lay says the implic­a­tions of the Aratere being out of action are very ser­i­ous for the trans­port net­work, as it is the only rail cap­able ferry on the Cook Strait.

In addi­tion, oth­er Inter­is­lander fer­ries are cur­rently out of ser­vice or due for dry dock.

The Kai­arahi is cur­rently laid up in Pic­ton under­go­ing main­ten­ance, and the Kaitaki is due to go to Singa­pore dry dock in late July for sched­uled main­ten­ance.

The Aratere was laid up last month and under­went main­ten­ance includ­ing on its steer­ing sys­tems. Gear­box issues had also dis­rup­ted its sched­ule and it was await­ing parts from over­seas.