Interislander News

The 47th Annual Interferry Conference takes place in Hobart, Tasmania on November 4-8, 2023. With focus on elevating the customer experience and sustainability, expert presentations will feature the latest trends in tourism, service automation and onboard entertainment, as well as ship construction and conversion trends, optimised operations, and safety measures.How global tourism trends have changed and will develop post COVID-19 are part of the keynote of Robert Dougan from Tourism Australia, who kicks off the conference on Day 1.

RWO has been selected by KiwiRail to supply its next-generation advanced water treatment system - the CleanSewage Membrane Reactor (CS-MBR) – to New Zealand’s Inter-Island Resilient Connection Project (iReX).Two custom-built Interislander ROPAX ferries have been ordered to service the connection between Wellington and Picton. Environmental protection is a key priority for the project, and both vessels, which are being built at Korean shipyard Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD), will…

New Zealand's state-owned KiwiRail has issued a request for proposal to find a preferred shipyard to build two new RoPax ferries for operator Interislander.The international tender follows a NZ$400 Million (US$256.1 million) contribution to the 2020 Budget that enables KiwiRail to procure two new modernized vessels for service between capitol Wellington on the North Island and Picton on the South Island. When entering into operation in 2024 and 2025, the new ferries will replace the existing fleet of three ships…

The New Zealand Shipping Federation (NZSF) said it has appointed Annabel Young as its new executive director. It said Ms Young was a National Party list MP from 1997 to 2002 and since then she has been the chief executive at Federated Farmers, as well as the Pharmacy Guild. The new executive director wants to get the issue of coastal shipping back on politicians' radar screen. "Everyone talks about road and rail but one look at a map of New Zealand tells you coastal shipping is a really important part of the transport network," she said. The federation started in 1906 and its current members are Pacifica Shipping, Silver Fern Shipping, Strait Shipping, the Interislander, NIWA and cement companies.

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.