It's unclear how long the Interislander's Aratere ferry will be out of action.
The ferry became grounded near Picton on Friday night - after suffering a steering failure - it was undergoing a freight only voyage.
It was successfully refloated last night.
Maritime NZ has placed a detention order once the vessel is in the port.
Interislander general manager Duncan Roy says the ferry has little damage.
"We immediately tested the lower tanks, they were all dry, the ship is watertight - and we're putting divers down again today to confirm, but it looks to be in good condition."
Maritime NZ and the Transport Accident Investigation Commission are investigating the incident.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Edb into Islander theory that Araterri has been successfully refloated.
The ship run ground and picked in harbor on Friday night.
Reigniting frustrations are the key we Rail's aging fleet. Duncan
Roy is the Inter Islander General Manager and he's with
me now. Good morning, Duncan.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Morning Francesca.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Let's start with the good news. Aditiri has been refloated.
Talk us through how that went.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
So it was a good night for a lot of
parties last night. We successfully got arter back on the water.
It was a really complex operation and we had a
lot of agencies working together very professionally to do it.
So we had obviously enter islander, but there was Maritime
New Zealand Ports and Marlbourne, New Zealand Harbourmaster, the crew
(00:56):
of everybody, the tugo operations, the pilots for the harbor
all worked together to successfully get Raterri back on the water.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Good to hear. Do you have any indication of how
much damage there is to the ship?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Very little damage. We've got divers on it this morning.
We'd immediately tested the lower tanks. They were all dry.
Ship is watertight and we're putting divers down again today
to confirm. But it looks in good condition.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Okay, so it has been put into detention and picton
is that right?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
No, that's not right. It's a anchorage at the moment.
The first thing we have to do is we have
to stabilize the ferry. So ships have a lot of
weight in certain positions to make them stable. And you
can imagine, we moved a lot of weight to the
rear of the ship to make the front as light
as possible to pull it off the shore. And now
we're in the process of fulling tanks at the front
(01:48):
and moving freight around to make sure she's stable again.
Once it's stable, we'll bring it into port. We'll continue
to go through our processes and then we have Maritime
New Zealand and the Transport Exit Investigation Commission that will
be coming on and starting our investigation.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Okay, so do you have any idea how long it
might be out of action?
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Now we'll work through with MNZ and Transport Exit Investigation.
It's under its own steam now, it was moving around,
so it's about us working with them. As they go
through their process.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
What kind of disruption is this going to cause? Do
you have the resources to cover the Aratari while it's
out of action.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
So we've got the Kaentucky working and we have a
chiarity and maintenance at the moment, so we've got processes
for this. We'll be working with our customers and working
with Bluebridge. We have an arrangement with them when these
things happen to do the best we can for our
customers to get them across Cook Street straight. We know
how important it is.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
So duncan what happens? Do we know anything further about
what happened?
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Well, right now we have, as I said, two investigations going,
so we're not going to speculate. That doesn't help the
investigations do their job. But I'm sure once those go through,
we'll have the facts and we'll know exactly what happened.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
This must be very frustrating for you because of course
maintenance has just been done on the ship. Did something
go wrong in this process all the right checks and
processes in place.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Well, that's part of the investigation. We do have a
very heavy maintenance rogiat. We just spent some money on
the Ratiri replacing a number of systems. But we'll better
be part of investigation and see how this occurred. But
every time we do maintenance, there is a rigorous process
to bring the ship back into operations, including the specialists
(03:32):
who do the work we have signed off by external parties,
and then we do our own sea trials. And Orataria
had been operating from a number of weeks with that problem.
But as I said, all part of investigation. There'll be
some really deep investigation going on.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
How do you feel about the Transport Minister saying he's
disappointed with the state, with the state of asset management
from Kiwi Rail.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
That's the question for the Transfer minister. I know we
have in the last twelve months. I tomented a really
intensive maintenance program. We've put new people on, we've increased
the resources, taken our ships off and they reduced the
number of crossings to spend more time on them. And
for the six months prior to this we had good reliability.
We're running at ninety nine point six percent. So we
(04:16):
will get through this. We'll pivot and we have confidence
in the intense maintenance regime that would put in place
in the last twelve months. And I have confidence that
that is heading in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Duncan Maritime New Zealand was also under fire from the minister.
Have you reached their standards of maintenance?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Well, Maritime New Zealand is our regulator, so the ones
that ordered us so, yes, they sign us off to operate.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
The government has of course scrapped the mega fery plan.
They are committed to new vessels. How quickly do you
want to know what direction they're going to take?
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Right now, I'm focused on the operating of the current fleet.
I know there is a lot of decisions being made
and a lot of information being processed by our shareholder
and the Ministry Advisory Group. Our job is to do
the day to day operating of the ferry and when
they make decisions, we will pivot to that and put
that into operation.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Do you have confidence that the government will come up
with a plan that will future proof the safety and
resilience of the cockstrate service.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
I think everybody knows just how important cockstraight is and
we know that it's the life stayhooh one. Between our
two countries, we move sixteen billion dollars withth of freight
every year, one hundreds of thousands of new Zelanders going
about their place. So I have confidence that there'll be
a full and resilient corkstrate fority service going forward.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
So realistically, how long can we keep this aging fleet
in working order?
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Our current fleet is non operations. We've board in an
international maritime expert company called DMV and I'll be briefing
the board and the Minister about our plans for the
future for the current fleet and that will when and
we're confident we can keep it going. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Look, there was a report in the Herald recently just
talking about their increased cost oover maintaining these fleets. Is
that cost going to keep increasing?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
So that number was inaccurate, but it is fair to
say that as any complex asset and piece of machinery ages,
their costom maintenance increases. And we've made it with factive
at into what we're our plans.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Duncan what do you say to those businesses that use
the theories for freight services? Can they be confident their needs?
Will we meet well?
Speaker 3 (06:28):
We value our customers. They get a choice and we
know that the most important part of what we do
after safety, and we're working really hard to give them
a reliable and safe service. That they can trust.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Is there actually anything on the ship at the moment
that needs to come off in a hurry, Duncan, do
you know when you'll be able to unload?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
No, there's nothing on that needs to come off in
a hurry, and we'll go through that process once we
get it into interport.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I know it's been a very busy couple of days
for you. Very much appreciate you talking to us this morning.
Thanks Duncan.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Thanks Francesca, have a good thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
That was Duncan Roy, the Inter Islander General Manager.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
For more from the Sundays session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks at B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Edb into Islander theory that Araterri has been successfully refloated.
The ship run ground and picked in harbor on Friday night.
Reigniting frustrations are the key we Rail's aging fleet. Duncan
Roy is the Inter Islander General Manager and he's with
me now. Good morning, Duncan.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Morning Francesca.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Let's start with the good news. Aditiri has been refloated.
Talk us through how that went.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
So it was a good night for a lot of
parties last night. We successfully got arter back on the water.
It was a really complex operation and we had a
lot of agencies working together very professionally to do it.
So we had obviously enter islander, but there was Maritime
New Zealand Ports and Marlbourne, New Zealand Harbourmaster, the crew
(00:56):
of everybody, the tugo operations, the pilots for the harbor
all worked together to successfully get Raterri back on the water.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Good to hear. Do you have any indication of how
much damage there is to the ship?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Very little damage. We've got divers on it this morning.
We'd immediately tested the lower tanks. They were all dry.
Ship is watertight and we're putting divers down again today
to confirm. But it looks in good condition.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Okay, so it has been put into detention and picton
is that right?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
No, that's not right. It's a anchorage at the moment.
The first thing we have to do is we have
to stabilize the ferry. So ships have a lot of
weight in certain positions to make them stable. And you
can imagine, we moved a lot of weight to the
rear of the ship to make the front as light
as possible to pull it off the shore. And now
we're in the process of fulling tanks at the front
(01:48):
and moving freight around to make sure she's stable again.
Once it's stable, we'll bring it into port. We'll continue
to go through our processes and then we have Maritime
New Zealand and the Transport Exit Investigation Commission that will
be coming on and starting our investigation.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Okay, so do you have any idea how long it
might be out of action?
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Now we'll work through with MNZ and Transport Exit Investigation.
It's under its own steam now, it was moving around,
so it's about us working with them. As they go
through their process.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
What kind of disruption is this going to cause? Do
you have the resources to cover the Aratari while it's
out of action.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
So we've got the Kaentucky working and we have a
chiarity and maintenance at the moment, so we've got processes
for this. We'll be working with our customers and working
with Bluebridge. We have an arrangement with them when these
things happen to do the best we can for our
customers to get them across Cook Street straight. We know
how important it is.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
So duncan what happens? Do we know anything further about
what happened?
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Well, right now we have, as I said, two investigations going,
so we're not going to speculate. That doesn't help the
investigations do their job. But I'm sure once those go through,
we'll have the facts and we'll know exactly what happened.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
This must be very frustrating for you because of course
maintenance has just been done on the ship. Did something
go wrong in this process all the right checks and
processes in place.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Well, that's part of the investigation. We do have a
very heavy maintenance rogiat. We just spent some money on
the Ratiri replacing a number of systems. But we'll better
be part of investigation and see how this occurred. But
every time we do maintenance, there is a rigorous process
to bring the ship back into operations, including the specialists
(03:32):
who do the work we have signed off by external parties,
and then we do our own sea trials. And Orataria
had been operating from a number of weeks with that problem.
But as I said, all part of investigation. There'll be
some really deep investigation going on.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
How do you feel about the Transport Minister saying he's
disappointed with the state, with the state of asset management
from Kiwi Rail.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
That's the question for the Transfer minister. I know we
have in the last twelve months. I tomented a really
intensive maintenance program. We've put new people on, we've increased
the resources, taken our ships off and they reduced the
number of crossings to spend more time on them. And
for the six months prior to this we had good reliability.
We're running at ninety nine point six percent. So we
(04:16):
will get through this. We'll pivot and we have confidence
in the intense maintenance regime that would put in place
in the last twelve months. And I have confidence that
that is heading in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Duncan Maritime New Zealand was also under fire from the minister.
Have you reached their standards of maintenance?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Well, Maritime New Zealand is our regulator, so the ones
that ordered us so, yes, they sign us off to operate.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
The government has of course scrapped the mega fery plan.
They are committed to new vessels. How quickly do you
want to know what direction they're going to take?
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Right now, I'm focused on the operating of the current fleet.
I know there is a lot of decisions being made
and a lot of information being processed by our shareholder
and the Ministry Advisory Group. Our job is to do
the day to day operating of the ferry and when
they make decisions, we will pivot to that and put
that into operation.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Do you have confidence that the government will come up
with a plan that will future proof the safety and
resilience of the cockstrate service.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
I think everybody knows just how important cockstraight is and
we know that it's the life stayhooh one. Between our
two countries, we move sixteen billion dollars withth of freight
every year, one hundreds of thousands of new Zelanders going
about their place. So I have confidence that there'll be
a full and resilient corkstrate fority service going forward.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
So realistically, how long can we keep this aging fleet
in working order?
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Our current fleet is non operations. We've board in an
international maritime expert company called DMV and I'll be briefing
the board and the Minister about our plans for the
future for the current fleet and that will when and
we're confident we can keep it going. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Look, there was a report in the Herald recently just
talking about their increased cost oover maintaining these fleets. Is
that cost going to keep increasing?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
So that number was inaccurate, but it is fair to
say that as any complex asset and piece of machinery ages,
their costom maintenance increases. And we've made it with factive
at into what we're our plans.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Duncan what do you say to those businesses that use
the theories for freight services? Can they be confident their needs?
Will we meet well?
Speaker 3 (06:28):
We value our customers. They get a choice and we
know that the most important part of what we do
after safety, and we're working really hard to give them
a reliable and safe service. That they can trust.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Is there actually anything on the ship at the moment
that needs to come off in a hurry, Duncan, do
you know when you'll be able to unload?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
No, there's nothing on that needs to come off in
a hurry, and we'll go through that process once we
get it into interport.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I know it's been a very busy couple of days
for you. Very much appreciate you talking to us this morning.
Thanks Duncan.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Thanks Francesca, have a good thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
That was Duncan Roy, the Inter Islander General Manager.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
For more from the Sundays session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks at B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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