Cook Strait ferries debacle

[Winston001]

This has nothing to do with tie-downs and sailing times.

Kiwirail have decided to lease full-time the Stena Alegra which is the ship they borrowed in a hurry when the Arahura had problems. The Arahura is now being retired and the Stena Alegra (which has its own problems) is its replacement.

So they are keeping it.

Spare me days. The Stena Alegra is not a road-rail ferry. In order to load it, rail wagons must first be unloaded and freight trucked onto the Stena, and at the other end the same procedure takes place in reverse. The ship is not passenger friendly either so people have to queue and wait to get on and get off.

Any ship-wise people who can explain this banana republic decision?

[Gremlin]

Probably cheaper than the right ferry.

Hopefully the more reliable option (well, why else would they make the decision).

[F5 Dave]

We need Winston Peters to save us.

[yokel]

When I heard that the ferry was coming from Poland I lol'd

[awayatc]

Aratere was not the best ferry.....
Then Kiwirail in its infinite wisdom had same Aratere lengthened in Singapore at enormous expense...
Then disastrous decision making accumulated to almost farcical magnitudes....
Thus the budget got blown on this gigantic white elephant....(somebody's ill advised wet dream..)
Revenue down....cost up (aratere with smaller prop has lower speed and cant make the required amount of crossings anymore )
What do you do...?
You desperately and quickly grab whatever you can get with the money you haven't got....
Incompetence at a larger scale.....

[Berries]

Alegra is Maori for drowning.

Strange but true.

[mashman]

Second hand stuff is always cheaper than new stuff. It's an expensive business if you're not making enough money to be able to buy new ferries... or aren't saving for that rainy day. Who's the local ship builder on these islands?

[Murray]

Aren't they leasing it??

To expesive to build another one.

[amberzfire]

Alegra is Maori for drowning.

Strange but true.

bro .. there's no 'L' in the Maori alphabet .. but flip to Spanish and Alegra borderlines -happy, cheerful, pleasing- lol then again if it's a Polish Vessel then hmm I don't know .. my Polish isn't very good (at all).. as long as it's not Irish with the name Titanic I suppose ..

[IkieBikie]

The ferry would be chartered for five years and would undergo a significant upgrade before arriving in New Zealand. It would also be renamed before being put into service in mid-2015.

The Stena Alegra is currently moored off the Indonesian side of Singapore Strait awaiting propeller and other repairs.

The 21,000 tonne Spanish-built Stena Alegra was chartered by InterIslander as a six month replacement vessel earlier this year for the Aratere, which lost a propeller last November when a shaft broke.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/6...eplace-arahura

Public reaction from the feedback is not positive!!!!

[Kickaha]

I dont care what boat it is, so long as there is a boat and it gets across in a reasonable time,

Fuck them for not doing Grassmere and running fast ferries though

[R650R]

There was a story in the news couple months back about kiwi rail ditching the whole rail via ferry thing saying the whole process was uneconomic and the numbers didn't justify it etc for the time and logistics involved.
Maybe this was legit or they were buttering up the nation for the loss of the interisland rail link.

Sadly we are a borderline third world nation economically, its only thanks to mother England originally buying so much meat and wool off us that we have what we have already or else half the countries roads would still be gravel.
I predict we will have another Wahine style disaster in our lifetimes due to one of these aging boats failing including the alegra....
Lets not forget we have a private company, straight shipping operating a successful business alongside the govt... maybe they are positing to ditch the ferries altogether and sell it off to them...

Its only luck that the prop and engine failures have occurred in fine weather close to land....

[scumdog]

bro .. there's no 'L' in the Maori alphabet ..

Hmm, just off the cuff there's Wangaloa and Waihola down here

[R650R]

in related news....

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11373711

[James Deuce]

Any ship-wise people who can explain this banana republic decision?

Nothing to do with ships. Everything to do with the all powerful Road Transport Forum. The biggest issue I see with the Stena Alegra is the amount of oil it spews out each crossing. Doesn't have a functioning mechanical seal anywhere on that boat and nothing short of a full refit including completely new motive power bits and probably new hull plates is going to fix it.

And what Kickaha said.