DEV ''Aratere'' is a

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

rail and vehicle

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

operated by

KiwiRail KiwiRail Holdings Limited is a New Zealand state-owned enterprise responsible for rail operations in New Zealand, and operates inter-island ferries. Trading as KiwiRail and headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, KiwiRail is the largest rail ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Built in 1998 for the then private company Tranz Rail and lengthened in 2011, she operates four daily crossings on the ''

Interislander Interislander is a road and rail ferry service across New Zealand's Cook Strait, between Wellington in the North Island and Picton in the South Island. It is owned and operated by state-owned rail operator KiwiRail. Three roll-on roll-off (R ...

'' service across

Cook Strait Cook Strait ( mi, Te Moana-o-Raukawa) separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, A H, ...

from

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

to Picton each day (with six crossings over the December/January period).

History

Diesel Electric Vessel (DEV) ''Aratere'' was built for

Tranz Rail Tranz Rail, formally Tranz Rail Holdings Limited (New Zealand Rail Limited until 1995), was the main rail operator in New Zealand from 1991 until it was purchased by Toll Holdings in 2003. History The New Zealand railway network was initially ...

in 1998 to replace the ''Aratika''. The name "Aratere" is a Māori-language word meaning "quick path" (''ara'' = "path, route", ''tere'' = "fast, quick"). In 2011, ''Aratere'' underwent a $52 million refit at the Sembawang shipyard in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, increasing her capacity from 360 to 600 passengers. The refit included a new bow and stern. The ship was lengthened by cutting it in half to insert a new midsection.

Incidents

''Aratere'' has been involved in several technical problems and engine failures over her years in service. There is no official relationship between these incidents, though the media have stoked speculation that the ferry may be

jinx A jinx (also jynx), in popular superstition and folklore, is a curse or the attribute of attracting bad or negative luck. The word ''"jynx"'' meaning the bird wryneck and sometimes a charm or spell has been in use in English since the seventeent ...

ed and she has earned the nickname "El

Lemon The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...

". Notable incidents have included: * 25 February 1999 - An engine failure. * 18 December 2000 - An engine malfunction. * 1 October 2004 - "30 seconds of potential disaster" after ''Aratere'' had a steering fault in the

Marlborough Sounds The Marlborough Sounds are an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. The Marlborough Sounds were created by a combination of land subsidence and rising sea levels. According to Māori ...

. * 10 February 2005 - ''Aratere'' was detained after a "crisis of confidence" with inspectors noting that she had arrived from Spain six years earlier in a shocking state. They could no longer allow her to operate as she was She was eventually allowed to sail again on 15 March. * After the extensive refit carried out in Singapore in 2011, she has once again experienced numerous incidents, including engine failures. On 2 November 2011 Maritime NZ ordered the ship to stop operating until proven safe. * On 5 November 2013, Aratere snapped a drive shaft, losing a propeller in Cook Strait. This initially forced the ship out of service, causing disruption to Interislander schedules.Aratere out of action for six months
. ''3 News NZ''. 14 November 2013. Subsequently, the ship was allowed to make freight only crossings with only one propeller for propulsion.

Layout

''Aratere'' has both rail and vehicle decks. These can be loaded simultaneously through the stern via a double linkspan. A lower hold has additional space for cars, though access to this hold was blocked off after the refit in Singapore. ''Aratere'' has six decks. * Deck 1 - Engine and propulsion rooms * Deck 2 - Rail deck * Deck 3 - Road vehicle deck * Deck 4 - Bar, Foodcourt, Shop, Lounge, Deck Access * Deck 5 - Premium Lounge, Drivers Accommodation, Deck Access including outdoor seating. * Deck 6 - Bridge and sun deck

Service

''Aratere'' operates six crossings of the

each day (three passenger, three freight). In late 2009, ''Aratere'' celebrated her 20,000th crossing, having travelled around 2 million kilometres.

References

External links

Aratere
at Interislander website
New Zealand Herald Aratere-related articles

* ttp://www.nzmaritime.co.nz/aratere.htm New Zealand Maritime Index: MV Aratere* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aratere Cook Strait ferries 1998 ships Ships built in Spain