Bluebridge ferry loses power, drifts in Cook Strait
The lights of the stricken Connemara, captured from Owhiro Bay on Wellington's south coast. Photo: RNZ / Mary Wilson
A Bluebridge ferry has lost power heading into Cook Strait, and drifted for more than two hours.
Wellington Harbourmaster Grant Nalder said the ferry, the Bluebridge Connemara, blacked out after leaving Wellington on Thursday night.
There was no immediate risk to anyone on board, Nalder said.
"She's been drifting slowly in a southeast direction, so that's away from land, so there's no distress, there's no immediate safety issue - she's quite safe."
By 2am Friday, the tug boat Tapuhi was towing Connemara back to Wellington, and a second tug, Tiaki, was providing steerage.
Nalder believed it was a freight sailing, and said it had just 88 people on board. He said the shipping authority Maritime New Zealand, and the Rescue Co-ordination Centre, were both monitoring the situation.
The Bluebridge Connemara and Interislander Kaiarahi in Picton. (File image) Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
MarineTraffic.com's ship tracker showed the vessel was sitting just south of Sinclair Head at 12.30am Friday, and its status was "Drifting".
It had left Wellington at 9.38pm, and Nalder said it lost power about 40 minutes later.
In May, passengers on board a different Bluebridge ferry, Strait Feronia, were briefly plunged into darkness when their ship lost power coming into Wellington Harbour.
A passenger on board told RNZ at the time that the ferry gave a "great shudder" and stopped, and all the lights went off.
They said passengers were told the ferry had lost control of the engine, and it was resolved after about 10 minutes.
Bluebridge said the outage was caused by a minor electrical fault, which had since been fixed.
The Interislander ferry Aratere ran aground in June. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
In 2023, the Connemara hit a wharf while it was leaving Wellington, causing a "decent dent" on the hull and a "very small hole" above the waterline, Nalder said at the time.
The vessel returned to port and passengers were able to disembark safely.
The Connemara underwent repairs and was back in service later that day.
Interislander ferries have also been plagued by issues in recent months - most notably the grounding of the Aratere near Picton in June.
The ferry, which was on a crew-only sailing, ran aground after a staff member mistakenly changed its course.
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