Aratere News

NewZealand's KiwiRail says that the Interislander ferry Arahura has left Wellington for her scheduled bi-annual dry-docking in Devonport, having last visited Auckland in July 2012. Docking is being undertaken at the Devonport Dockyard under the management of Babcock’s New Zealand. The principal work relates to the vessel’s regulatory compliance regime, which requires machinery and propulsion equipment to be inspected and if necessary, repaired. Work to be carried out while the vessel is in dry dock  includes tail shaft removal, an overhaul of the propeller hub, and crack testing of all propeller blades and securing bolts. Arahura’s rail deck will undergo routine track maintenance which will be completed by the KiwiRail track maintenance team.

KiwiRail confirms that salvors Seaworks have successfully recovered the ferry Aratere’s propeller, which was lost from the ship when the shaft fractured on November 5, 2013 outside the Tory Channel. “The propeller was retrieved from a depth of around 120 meters and approximately two nautical miles from Tory Channel using strops that were fitted around the blades of the propeller and part of the shaft via a remote controlled underwater vehicle. The propeller was then secured to…

The propeller had been lost earlier this month from the Interislander ferry, the 'Aratere', which is expected to be out of service for 6 months as a result, but the propeller has now been found in Cook Strait by Seawork Salvage Co., contracted by KiwiRail, reports Radio New Zealand. The propeller was discovered about two nautical miles from Tory Channel, by using sonar equipment and an unmanned vehicle. Citing a Seawork spokesman, Radio NZ say that the company will probably use its survey vessel, the unmanned submarine [sic] and another ship to salvage the propellor.

The Maritime Safety Authority is investigating an incident following a problem with the Aratere ferry’s automatic navigation system at the entrance to Tory Channel at 5.20pm yesterday. MSA General Manager Operations John Mansell says the MSA is very concerned there was potential for a serious grounding. “Fortunately, the Master was able to alter the course manually and bring her back on track. “The MSA is carrying out an urgent investigation. We have also imposed conditions that require the Aratere to be manually steered through the Tory Channel and in Wellington Harbour until the cause of the problem has been identified,” he said.

The Maritime Safety Authority has released the Aratere from detention, but under conditions including that the ferry sails as a cargo ship only. Under the conditions, the ferry will be required to undergo a technical risk assessment, from which actions and risk mitigation strategies will be developed and implemented. The MSA will also require a period of operational experience of working to the new strategies. This period will be under observation and inspection by MSA. MSA will also require emergency procedures and contingency plans to be reviewed. MSA imposed these conditions at 7.30pm tonight, and they will be in place until MSA is satisfied that the conditions are met.

The New Zealand Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) issued a report of the near grounding of the ferry ARATERE on September 29, 2004. The ferry was entering Tory Channel, a restricted waterway, when it failed to make a programmed course alteration while in automatic steering. The master intervened and made a manual alteration of course moments before the ferry would have grounded at full speed. The cause of the problem has not been definitely determined, but it appears that the automatic navigation and track steering system probably defaulted to autopilot mode because it received an erroneous signal from an external input…

Maritime New Zealand stated that the former master of the Cook Strait ferry Aratere was convicted of failing to navigate the ferry in accordance with the collision regulations provision during a crossing situation. Source: HK Law