Sunday, November 9, 2014

Interislander: Just GIVE UP!

Another nail in the Interislander ferry fleet coffin...
but surely it's hammering these in by itself?!
Sailing in troubled waters
Last Thursday the 31yr.old Arahura lost power in Wellington Harbour, and began drifting towards rocks. (Lucky this didn't happen during the big storm earlier in the week! Another Wahine disaster in-waiting...?)
The ship had completed its crossing and was turning to enter the berth when power was lost. Two tugboats had to help it dock.
This follows delays over Labour Weekend: Arahura was overloaded with passengers while in Wellington Harbour, and had to return to port to offload freight. Surely that instance could've been avoided by staff keeping a closer watch on how many passengers had booked to come aboard?
It's simple maths, something KiwiRail seems unable to calculate.
Look at the numbers: number of incidents + number of days lost + cost of repairs + loss of public confidence, and let's not forget to add in the rising costs of maintaining these tired vessels...and KiwiRail may (eventually) reach the same conclusion as the majority of the travelling public.
The fleet is CRAP and a NATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT! The vessels are no more use than as naval targets! Scrap these before something REALLY bad happens!
What with Aratere's broken propeller, and the temporary substitute Stena Alegra also proving itself to be a rip-off, Interislander's entire operation deserves a government enquiry!

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