18 Jan 2014

Troubled ferry spends another night in dock

10:00 pm on 18 January 2014

The troubled replacement Interislander ferry - the Stena Alegra - is spending another night in dock, after its evening sailing from Wellington to Picton was cancelled on Saturday.

The Stena Alegra in Wellington Harbour on Friday.

The Stena Alegra in Wellington Harbour on Friday. Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski

The Stena Alegra which has replaced the damaged Aratere broke down on Friday. A freight and passenger crossing between Wellington and Picton were cancelled on Friday morning when the Stena Alegra developed a faulty valve in its cooling system, causing an electrical failure which affected a propeller.

The faulty valve was repaired and the Stena Alegra made it to Picton but a severe weather warning forced it to remain there overnight on Friday. The vessel left Picton about 9am on Saturday.

Interislander general manager Thomas Davis says the latest cancellation on Saturday evening was due to four metre swells in Cook Strait, making it too uncomfortable.

"The sea conditions in Cook Strait are still very rough, we've decided to cancel the Allegra and run the Kaitaki just a little bit later in the interests in passenger comfort, Kaitaki is a more comfortable ship in rough conditions."

Mr Davis says the Arahura and Kaitaki are better ferries for managing rough seas than the Stena Alegra.

He says freight was moved onto the Kaitaki sailing on Saturday evening and the 280 passengers were able to choose between that trip or the Arahura on Sunday morning.

Mr Davis says despite the cancellation and problems on Friday, the Stena Alegra is reliable and these kind of cancellations won't become frequent.

On Saturday afternoon MetService said conditions were fine in Wellington and there was a light breeze in the Cook Strait. Duty forecaster Leigh Matheson said at the last recording, there were swells of three metres and it was expected to slowly ease overnight and on Sunday.

The next sailing of the Stena Alegra will be on Sunday evening.

The ferry went into operation on Monday as a replacement for the Aratere, which is out of action after a propeller fell off midway through a crossing from Picton to Wellington on 5 November last year.