Kaiarahi failure proves urgent need to retain emergency tug

The uni­on rep­res­ent­ing Kiwi sea­farers says the tech­nic­al fail­ure of the Inter­is­lander ferry Kai­arahi in the Cook Strait on Fri­day night is a “red flag” that the Gov­ern­ment can­not ignore, prov­ing the need to keep an emer­gency ocean-going tug on standby.

The Kai­arahi was forced to aban­don its voy­age and turn back to Wel­ling­ton on Fri­day 12 Decem­ber after exper­i­en­cing steer­ing issues in the Strait.

Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Carl Find­lay says the incid­ent demon­strates exactly why the Uni­on is demand­ing the reten­tion of the emer­gency response ves­sel MMA Vis­ion.

“We are cur­rently rely­ing on two aging fer­ries to bridge the gap until 2029. The Kai­arahi turn­ing back due to tech­nic­al fail­ure is the latest warn­ing sign, yet Trans­port Min­is­ter Chris Bish­op is mov­ing to axe the MMA Vis­ion con­tract months ahead of sched­ule.

“It is dis­turb­ing the Gov­ern­ment is plan­ning to remove our mari­time safety net at the pre­cise moment our crit­ic­al infra­struc­ture is show­ing its vul­ner­ab­il­ity. Min­is­ter Bishop’s decision to ter­min­ate the MMA Vis­ion con­tract early is gambling with people’s lives and our mari­time envir­on­ment.”

Mr Find­lay says the MMA Vis­ion has already proven its value to New Zealand’s mari­time safety.

“In Septem­ber this year, the MMA Vis­ion suc­cess­fully towed the chem­ic­al tanker Golden Mind to safety after it lost steer­ing off Rakiura/Stewart Island. It was also essen­tial in pulling the Man­a­hau barge off a West­port beach in 2024. If the MMA Vis­ion had not been avail­able, per­haps the Gov­ern­ment can explain what the altern­at­ive plan was for those ves­sels.”

The Uni­on notes that the cur­rent fra­gil­ity of the Cook Strait con­nec­tion is a dir­ect res­ult of the can­cel­la­tion of the iReX pro­ject.

“Fin­ance Min­is­ter Nic­ola Willis’s decision to can­cel the iReX deal in late 2023 has put the arrival of replace­ment fer­ries years behind sched­ule,” Mr Find­lay says.

“We have already seen the Kaitaki lose power with nearly 900 people on board and the Strait Ship­ping ferry Con­nemara drift in the Strait due to fuel issues.

“The Gov­ern­ment cre­ated this delay in fleet replace­ment. They have a respons­ib­il­ity to put adequate safety meas­ures in place to pro­tect the pub­lic and the sup­ply chain while we wait for the new fer­ries. Remov­ing the only ves­sel cap­able of an open-ocean res­cue in these con­di­tions is irre­spons­ible and neg­li­gent.”