Kaiarahi

KiwiRail hoped to have the 'Kaiārahi' back in service by the end of the weekend of March 14/15. The ferry has been out of service since an intermittent technical fault recurred on the night of March 10 when the vessel was berthed in Picton. Engineers had identified the cause and a replacement component from overseas was due to arrive on the afternoon of March 13. An Interislander staff member has gone overseas to collect crucial components to fix the stricken ferryo. The action was taken to ensure the part and a spare part arrived as quickly as possible. Trials were planned for March 14/15. Eight additional sailings of the 'Kaitaki' would be put on, on March 15 and March 16, when the vessel was due for a scheduled layby. Foot passengers on the cancelled sailings of the 'Kaiārahi' had been accommodated on 'Kaitaki' sailings, mostly on the same day. Around 1300 private vehicles were affected by the outage, and those customers were being offered a full refund, the opportunity to rebook at no additional cost and compensation for reasonable costs incurred as a direct result of the outage. Interislander was prioritising urgent freight that could not travel across the Cook Strait any other way.

Supply chain disruptions were expected after a mechanical fault of the 'Kaiārahi ' has reduced KiwiRail’s Interislander fleet to a single ferry. Sailings of the 'Kaiārahi' have been cancelled after a technical fault emerged on the morning of March 7, 2026, and again on March 10 in Picton. The fault was first detected while the 'Kaiārahi' was berthing in Wellington. The vessel safely docked but several sailings were cancelled while engineers carried out investigations, repairs and sea trials during a scheduled maintenance layby. The ferry returned to service on March 10, before the fault resurfaced later that evening, after the vessel had completed berthing. The recurrence allowed engineers to identify the root cause, and a replacement part was now being sourced from overseas. To help maintain capacity across Cook Strait, additional sailings of the 'Kaitaki' were scheduled for MArch 8 and March 9, dates that were previously set aside for maintenance. Interislander aimed to return the 'Kaiārahi' to service early next week, subject to successful testing and regulatory approval.

Passengers stuck on the 'Kaiārahi ' for more than six hours, after the ferry suffered steering problems during its voyage across the Cook Strait to Picton on Dec 12, 2025. The ship had left Wellington at about 3:30 p.m. LT, but as it was approaching the Tory Channel and did th regular checks, the crew found something was behaving oddly with the steering. The ferry didn't go through the channel but went out into Cook Strait to test what it was. After doing that, it was decided to return to Wellington. While there was a technical problem with the steering, there was full control of the wheel. The ship slowly headed back to Wellington Harbour since about 8 p.m. and berthed at 10.05 p.m., allowing passengers to get off the ferry at 10.40 p.m. Technical staff based in Wellington started investigating the problem. The appropriate authorities have been notified, and the operator wasl working with the passengers and freight customers to reschedule them.

The 'Kaiarahi' broke down had to be towed back to Wellington after departing for Picton on Dec 23, 2024, at around 1 p.m. NZ time with passengers on board, after the crew had detected a technical issue, a temperature fault related to a lubrication pump. The fault was quickly resolved and the vessel resumed the voyage to Picton, around an hour behind schedule.

On March 13, 2024, all passenger sailings betweeen Picton and Wellington on the 'Kaiarahi' have been cancelled until the afternoon of March 17 at the earliest. The Cook Strait ferry continued sailing with freight, but would not take passengers until a mechanical fault is fixed. The operator Interislander initially cancelled the three sailings on March 13, but has now extended the cancellations, after, dring a scheduled asset maintenance survey, a fault was found with the lifeboat reengagement system, used to reattach the lifeboats onto the ship after use. While the safety of the ship was unaffected, further testing revealed a faulty part requiring replacement. Until that part is sourced, the ferry would not take passengers. Customers were contacted and transferred to the next available sailing, or offered a refund.

The 'Kaiarahi' was forced to return to Wellington following a medical emergency onboard in the afternoon of Feb 20, 2023. It had just left Wellington Harbour en route to Cook Strait. A Wellington Free Ambulance crew met the ferry when it docked and transported one patient to Wellington Hospital in a moderate condition. This meant delays to Kaiarahi sailings through the rest of the day.