A fault in the engine cooling system has been identified as the cause of a breakdown in one of the Interislander vessels travelling the Cook Strait on Saturday.
KiwiRail says progress is being made in returning the Kaitaki to service and is in the process of being fixed. Plans are in place to re-introduce the vessel later this week.
It will be undertaking sea trials and initially it will carry only freight before returning to normal service.
The ship lost propulsion power near the end of its journey to Wellington with around 800 passengers plus 80 crew onboard. No one was injured in the incident.
It declared a mayday just after 5pm and two tug boats left Wellington to help assist the vessel back to the Kaiwharawhara terminal which arrived just after 9pm.
“As is common in ships, there is one water cooling system which is connected to all four of the main ship engines and also to the engines that run the generators for electricity,” Interislander executive general manager Walter Rushbrook says.
“A leak occurred in a connection that is part of the cooling system, which resulted in a loss of pressure.
“Sensors in each of the engines detected the reduction in pressure and the engines automatically shut down to protect them from overheating.
“The crew rapidly isolated the fault and were able to restore power to the ship,” Rushbrook says.
“The connection has been repaired and all other components of the cooling system have been checked and tested.
“Safety is our number one priority and we will not resume sailing until we are certain it is safe to do so.
“The ship will not return to service until Lloyds Register Class Society – an independent third party – has inspected the ship and issued an assurance report to Interislander and Maritime New Zealand. We are working closely with Maritime New Zealand and Lloyds,” he adds.
The disruption has resulted in a backlog of passengers and freight, and it says teams are working to clear this as quickly as possible. Some other sailings have been rescheduled and extra sailings have been added.
When space becomes available updates are being posted via the Interislander Facebook page.
Meanwhile, the Transport Accident Investigation Commission has opened an inquiry into the loss of power experienced by the Interislander.
The chief investigator of accidents, Naveen Kozhuppakalam, is appealing for ferry passengers and residents of Wellington’s South Coast who have videos or photographs of the events to contact TAIC at info@taic.org.nz.
