Maritime Union of New Zealand media release: Kaitaki sentencing underscores need for new ferries

The Cook Strait ferry crisis wasn’t just about cost — it was about safety. When the Kaitaki lost power and issued a Mayday, it exposed exactly what happens when ageing infrastructure is pushed too far.

The sentencing of KiwiRail today for a 2023 incident on the Kaitaki interisland ferry highlights the urgent need for replacement ferries, says the Maritime Union of New Zealand.

KiwiRail was fined $432,500 for a charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act brought by industry regulator Maritime New Zealand, following loss of engine power on the Interislander ferry Kaitaki on Saturday, 28 January 2023.

When failure stops being theoretical

Hundreds of passengers and crew were left adrift on the ferry in severe weather conditions and a ‘May Day’ call was issued as the ferry drifted towards the Wellington coast, before power was restored.

Maritime Union of New Zealand National Secretary Carl Findlay says the failure should never have happened.

“It’s pretty clear that this is a failure by KiwiRail to do some basic maintenance. They’ve copped that and so they should.

The warning inside the failure

“But you can’t look at this without the bigger picture. This is critical infrastructure that is ageing out and has been underfunded by successive governments for years.

“As far as MUNZ is concerned the last government’s plan to replace this fleet with the iRex project was already coming later than it should have.

“The cancellation of the new ferry deal by Minister of Finance Nicola Willis has put us back to square one at massive expense to the taxpayer. It’s gross negligence.

“The Government must provide a plan and a timeline for safe, publicly owned and rail enabled ferries as soon as possible.

“If they don’t. it should be them standing in the dock if this kind of failure happens again.”