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.