Source: Radio New Zealand
The Connemara has been out of service since last week. File photo RNZ / Ben Strang
Bluebridge ferry passengers are feeling deflated and frustrated by ongoing disruption to sailings, with one ferry out of action and the other running four hours behind schedule.
Sailings on Connemara have been canned for the eighth day in a row due to a technical fault, which is causing issues for its remaining service, Livia.
- Have you been affected? Email mary.argue@rnz.co.nz
Connemara, which usually sails up to four times daily between Wellington and Picton, hasn’t been running since the fault was identified almost a week ago.
Sailings on the ship had also been cancelled for Saturday.
StraitNZ Bluebridge spokesperson, Will Dady apologised “unreservedly” for the disruption but didn’t elaborate on what the fault was, just that it was taking longer than anticipated to fix.
Maritime NZ confirmed it would undertake its own inspection of the vessel to ensure safety standards were being met, but did not provide a timeframe.
The Connemara. (File photo) RNZ / Ben Strang
On Friday, Bluebridge issued an alert on its website informing passengers Livia was running four hours behind schedule due to re-accommodating Connemara passengers.
“All affected customers will be kept up to date with email and text notifications with revised sailing and final check in times,” it said.
Grace and John, who travel from the South to the North Island for work, said it wasn’t the first time they’d been caught up in a ferry cancellation or delay.
“Not only do we have to deal with increased fuel costs to drive up the South Island to the ferry, now we have to tolerate an appalling service from an essential transport network.”
They said they were booked on Friday’s 7.15pm Livia sailing and had just been told there was a four hour delay – it would now depart after 11pm.
In their opinion, “technical issues” was an insufficient explanation for the delays and cancellations.
“The New Zealand public deserves better.”
Another passenger, who was meant to be sailing on Connemara on Friday, said he was exhausted after spending a night trying to rebook on another service.
The man, who didn’t want to be named, said he was told late on Wednesday the crossing had been cancelled.
“The car was fully loaded, the cat was in the cattery and we were about to drive up from Dunedin to Picton. I feel like if they knew about this problem on Saturday why did they give us such little notice.”
He said the trip north to visit elderly parents came after a year of hard work saving up money and annual leave and the “last-minute contact” meant there was no time to recoup costs on pre-booked accommodation.
“I stayed up all night [on Wednesday] refreshing Bluebridge’s and Interislander’s websites and managed to book the Sunday night sailing and feel lucky to do so, but still feeling pretty deflated,” he said.
Dady said the company was doing everything it could to get the Connemara up and running again as soon as possible and that from time-to-time things went wrong “with large, complex ships sailing multiple times a day”.
“We are extremely aware [of] how disruptive this is for our customers, many of whom are long term and very loyal, and we apologise unreservedly to all of them.
“We want to reassure everyone that our team of engineers are working around the clock to return the ship to service.”
Maritime New Zealand said it was StraitNZ Bluebridge’s responsibility to repair Connemara.
“StraitNZ needs to work with the ship’s Classification Society (a non-government organisation that establishes and maintains technical standards) and flag state (Bahamas), to ensure the repairs are carried out and approved to their satisfaction.”
Following this, Maritime NZ would be informed and could either accept the approved fixes or make further enquiries, a spokesperson said.
Maritime NZ had also scheduled its own inspection of Connemara to confirm the operator was meeting safety standards.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand