Interislander
Encyclopedia
The Interislander is a road and rail ferry
service across New Zealand's Cook Strait
, owned and operated by state-owned rail operator KiwiRail
.
The Interislander travels between Wellington
in the North Island
and Picton
in the South Island
, forming a road and rail link between New Zealand's two main islands. Three roll-on roll-off vessels operate the 50 nautical miles (92.6 km) ferry route, taking three hours to complete the crossing.
The service carries about one million passengers and 230,000 vehicles per year on 5,700 sailings.
struggled to compete with ships for inter-island transport. In the days before containerisation, rail freight between the islands had to be railed in a wagon to Wellington, unloaded and transferred onto a ship to Picton or Lyttelton
, then loaded into another wagon before being railed the rest of the way. The Union Company
did run overnight car and passenger ferry services between Lyttelton and Wellington using steamers.
The Cook Strait Inter-Island Rail and Road Service (as it was known) started on 11 August 1962, with the roll-on roll-off ferry GMV Aramoana
operating the journey between Wellington and Picton. The service dramatically increased efficiency - rail wagons could simply be shunted onto the ferry at Wellington, and shunted off again at Picton. This meant freight could stay in the same wagon the whole journey, reducing time and money. Aramoana took just 3 hours 20 minutes to cross the Cook Strait, dramatically decreasing time between the two islands for cars and passengers - Wellington to Christchurch travel time was reduced from 11 hours on the Union ferry to 9 hours by Railways ferry and road. The initial service was one sailing each way per day, travelling Wellington to Picton in the morning and Picton to Wellington in the afternoon.
The service was an immediate success, although the service was criticised for its high prices. At NZ£
9 10s
one way for a family of four and a car up to 4.04 m (equal to $363 in 2010 dollars,) many people thought the service was overpriced for a Railways-operated service. However, there was a fine line to tread when it came to setting the price - too low, and shipping companies and airlines would claim unfair competition. Nevertheless, it was a cash cow
for the Railways - in the 1963/64 financial year, the Cook Strait ferry service contributed £535,000 of the Railways' £538,500 working profit.
The service soon expanded with the addition of the Aranui in 1966, the Arahanga in 1972, and the Aratika
in 1974. In 1974, the Union Company withdrew its overnight steamers, making Railways' Cook Strait ferries the only passenger and road sea crossing between the North and South Islands. In 1982, the Arahura joined the fleet to replace the ageing Aramoana and Aranui. The faster Arahura also reduced the time across Cook Strait by 20 minutes to three hours.
When the New Zealand Railways Corporation (the successor to the Railways Department) was restructured in 1984, the service was renamed "SeaRail". In 1989, it was again renamed to Interisland Line, and the service became known as The Interislander. The fleet was upgraded with improved facilities and a new livery including Pelorus Jack
. In 1995, New Zealand Rail was privatised and became Tranz Rail. In 1999, Tranz Rail leased the Aratere, and between 1999 and 2001, disposed of the Arahanga and the Aratika.
In 2004, Toll NZ
bought out Tranz Rail, and the Interisland Line was renamed to simply Interislander. Both of the existing ships were repainted to a new livery, with a fern replacing Perlous Jack on the funnel, while he moved to the hull with the logo. In 2005, Toll leased Challenge, which later in 2007 was renamed Kaitaki. The Kaitaki was the first Interislander ferry without a rail deck, and the first with a bow door (all the other ferries were stern boarding).
On 1 July 2008 the New Zealand Government purchased Toll NZ
Ltd, including the Interislander, becoming part of KiwiRail
.
The Lynx was cancelled in 2005 due to large losses in operating the service. The fast ferries use copious amounts of fuel and their jet streams caused environmental damage. In 1994, speed restrictions were imposed in Wellington harbour to reduce wash and protect ships berthed at Aotea Quay, and in May 2000, an 18-knot speed limit was imposed on all ships in the Marlborough Sounds
after residents complained of shoreline damage caused by the ferries. By 2002, The Lynx took 2 hours 15 minutes to complete its journey - only a 45 minute advantage over the Arahura and Aratere, which also had the added advantage of being able to operate in swells above The Lynx's limit of 4.0 metres, which were common in Cook Strait and frequently caused cancellations of services.
, MV Aratere
, and . Arahura and Aratere are rail/road/passenger ships, carrying rail wagons on the lower vehicle deck and road vehicles on the upper vehicle deck. Kaitaki does not have rail capacity, and carries road vehicles across two decks.
The ship names are all in Māori
, and translate to "Pathway to dawn" (Arahura), "Quick path" (Aratere), and "Challenger" (Kaitaki).
The Lynx: Various High Speed Craft (HSC) have operated under this marketing name (all road/passenger): (chartered from Condor Ferries
summer 1994, 1995) (chartered from Condor Ferries 1995-1999) (chartered 2000-2002) (also known as the "Devil Cat", chartered 2003-2005)
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
service across New Zealand's Cook Strait
Cook Strait
Cook Strait is the strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. It connects the Tasman Sea on the west with the South Pacific Ocean on the east....
, owned and operated by state-owned rail operator KiwiRail
KiwiRail
KiwiRail Holdings Limited is the rail operations subsidiary of the New Zealand Railways Corporation, which trades as KiwiRail. Headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, KiwiRail is the largest rail transport operator in New Zealand. Since July 2010 John Spencer has been the Chairman...
.
The Interislander travels between Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
in the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
and Picton
Picton, New Zealand
Picton is a town in the Marlborough region of New Zealand. It is close to the head of Queen Charlotte Sound near the north-east corner of the South Island. The population was 2928 in the 2006 Census, a decrease of 72 from 2001...
in the South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
, forming a road and rail link between New Zealand's two main islands. Three roll-on roll-off vessels operate the 50 nautical miles (92.6 km) ferry route, taking three hours to complete the crossing.
The service carries about one million passengers and 230,000 vehicles per year on 5,700 sailings.
History
Before 1962, the North Island and South Island rail networks were separated from each other, and the New Zealand Railways DepartmentNew Zealand Railways Department
The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway system. The Department was created in 1880 and was reformed in 1981 into the New...
struggled to compete with ships for inter-island transport. In the days before containerisation, rail freight between the islands had to be railed in a wagon to Wellington, unloaded and transferred onto a ship to Picton or Lyttelton
Lyttelton, New Zealand
Lyttelton is a port town on the north shore of Lyttelton Harbour close to Banks Peninsula, a suburb of Christchurch on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand....
, then loaded into another wagon before being railed the rest of the way. The Union Company
Union Company
The Union Company, Union Steam Ship Company , or Union Line was started in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1875, when it was floated by James Mills, who had been clerk to Johnny Jones and his Harbour Steam Company....
did run overnight car and passenger ferry services between Lyttelton and Wellington using steamers.
The Cook Strait Inter-Island Rail and Road Service (as it was known) started on 11 August 1962, with the roll-on roll-off ferry GMV Aramoana
Aramoana (ferry)
Government Motor Vessel Aramoana was a roll-on roll-off train ferry operating across the Cook Strait between 1962 and 1983.-History:...
operating the journey between Wellington and Picton. The service dramatically increased efficiency - rail wagons could simply be shunted onto the ferry at Wellington, and shunted off again at Picton. This meant freight could stay in the same wagon the whole journey, reducing time and money. Aramoana took just 3 hours 20 minutes to cross the Cook Strait, dramatically decreasing time between the two islands for cars and passengers - Wellington to Christchurch travel time was reduced from 11 hours on the Union ferry to 9 hours by Railways ferry and road. The initial service was one sailing each way per day, travelling Wellington to Picton in the morning and Picton to Wellington in the afternoon.
The service was an immediate success, although the service was criticised for its high prices. At NZ£
New Zealand pound
The pound was the currency of New Zealand between 1840 and 1967. Like the British pound, it was subdivided into 20 shillings each of 12 pence. As a result of the great depression of the early 1930s, the New Zealand agricultural export market to the UK was badly affected...
9 10s
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
one way for a family of four and a car up to 4.04 m (equal to $363 in 2010 dollars,) many people thought the service was overpriced for a Railways-operated service. However, there was a fine line to tread when it came to setting the price - too low, and shipping companies and airlines would claim unfair competition. Nevertheless, it was a cash cow
Cash cow
In business, a cash cow is a product or a business unit that generates unusually high profit margins: so high that it is responsible for a large amount of a company's operating profit...
for the Railways - in the 1963/64 financial year, the Cook Strait ferry service contributed £535,000 of the Railways' £538,500 working profit.
The service soon expanded with the addition of the Aranui in 1966, the Arahanga in 1972, and the Aratika
Aratika (ferry)
The MV Aratika was a ferry that served the Interisland Line, taking passengers between Wellington and Picton in New Zealand. The aging Aratika, was replaced in 1999 by the since problem-plagued MV Aratere.- History :...
in 1974. In 1974, the Union Company withdrew its overnight steamers, making Railways' Cook Strait ferries the only passenger and road sea crossing between the North and South Islands. In 1982, the Arahura joined the fleet to replace the ageing Aramoana and Aranui. The faster Arahura also reduced the time across Cook Strait by 20 minutes to three hours.
When the New Zealand Railways Corporation (the successor to the Railways Department) was restructured in 1984, the service was renamed "SeaRail". In 1989, it was again renamed to Interisland Line, and the service became known as The Interislander. The fleet was upgraded with improved facilities and a new livery including Pelorus Jack
Pelorus Jack
Pelorus Jack was a Risso's dolphin that was famous for meeting and escorting ships through a stretch of water in Cook Strait, New Zealand, between 1888 and 1912...
. In 1995, New Zealand Rail was privatised and became Tranz Rail. In 1999, Tranz Rail leased the Aratere, and between 1999 and 2001, disposed of the Arahanga and the Aratika.
In 2004, Toll NZ
Toll NZ
Toll Group Limited is a New Zealand trucking company. A subsidiary of the Australian company Toll Holdings, it has its headquarters in Auckland. It carries out operations by road and in the air, and formerly by rail and sea....
bought out Tranz Rail, and the Interisland Line was renamed to simply Interislander. Both of the existing ships were repainted to a new livery, with a fern replacing Perlous Jack on the funnel, while he moved to the hull with the logo. In 2005, Toll leased Challenge, which later in 2007 was renamed Kaitaki. The Kaitaki was the first Interislander ferry without a rail deck, and the first with a bow door (all the other ferries were stern boarding).
On 1 July 2008 the New Zealand Government purchased Toll NZ
Toll NZ
Toll Group Limited is a New Zealand trucking company. A subsidiary of the Australian company Toll Holdings, it has its headquarters in Auckland. It carries out operations by road and in the air, and formerly by rail and sea....
Ltd, including the Interislander, becoming part of KiwiRail
KiwiRail
KiwiRail Holdings Limited is the rail operations subsidiary of the New Zealand Railways Corporation, which trades as KiwiRail. Headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, KiwiRail is the largest rail transport operator in New Zealand. Since July 2010 John Spencer has been the Chairman...
.
The Lynx
The Lynx was Interislander's attempt at a fast ferry service across Cook Strait. Pressured by Christchurch businessman Brooke McKenzie and his ill-fated Sea Shuttles NZ fast ferry service, the Interisland Line chartered the to operate a fast service called The Lynx across the strait for the 1994/95 summer. The "Vomit Comet", as it was dubbed, was an initial success, taking half the time of the regular Interislander ferries, Condor 10 returned to serve as The Lynx every summer until 1999, when it was replaced with the for the 1999/2000 summer. A permanent year-round service was started in 2000 with which was later replaced in 2003 by .The Lynx was cancelled in 2005 due to large losses in operating the service. The fast ferries use copious amounts of fuel and their jet streams caused environmental damage. In 1994, speed restrictions were imposed in Wellington harbour to reduce wash and protect ships berthed at Aotea Quay, and in May 2000, an 18-knot speed limit was imposed on all ships in the Marlborough Sounds
Marlborough Sounds
The Marlborough Sounds are an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys created by a combination of land subsidence and rising sea levels at the north of the South Island of New Zealand...
after residents complained of shoreline damage caused by the ferries. By 2002, The Lynx took 2 hours 15 minutes to complete its journey - only a 45 minute advantage over the Arahura and Aratere, which also had the added advantage of being able to operate in swells above The Lynx's limit of 4.0 metres, which were common in Cook Strait and frequently caused cancellations of services.
Vessels
The Interislander currently operates three roll-on roll-off ferries: MV ArahuraArahura (ferry)
DEV Arahura is a roll-on roll-off diesel-electric rail ferry built in 1982 for the New Zealand Railways Corporation. She remains in service on the Interislander route across the Cook Strait in New Zealand.-History:...
, MV Aratere
Aratere (ferry)
The DEV Aratere is a roll-on roll-off rail and vehicle ferry in service for Interislander in New Zealand. The ferry was built for Tranz Rail, now KiwiRail, in 1998 to replace the aging MV Aratika...
, and . Arahura and Aratere are rail/road/passenger ships, carrying rail wagons on the lower vehicle deck and road vehicles on the upper vehicle deck. Kaitaki does not have rail capacity, and carries road vehicles across two decks.
The ship names are all in Māori
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
, and translate to "Pathway to dawn" (Arahura), "Quick path" (Aratere), and "Challenger" (Kaitaki).
Current fleet
| Image | Name | Built | Entered service | Capacity | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Passengers | Road | Rail | |||||
 |
MV Arahura Arahura (ferry) DEV Arahura is a roll-on roll-off diesel-electric rail ferry built in 1982 for the New Zealand Railways Corporation. She remains in service on the Interislander route across the Cook Strait in New Zealand.-History:... |
1982 | 1983 | 550 | 300 lane metres (124 cars) | 300 lane metres (60 wagons) | |
 |
MV Aratere Aratere (ferry) The DEV Aratere is a roll-on roll-off rail and vehicle ferry in service for Interislander in New Zealand. The ferry was built for Tranz Rail, now KiwiRail, in 1998 to replace the aging MV Aratika... |
1998 | 1999 | 360 | 515 lane metres (130 cars) | 300 lane metres (60 wagons) | |
 |
1994 | 2005 | 1650 | 1780 lane metres (600 cars) | none | built 1994 as Isle of Innisfree; chartered by Interislander in 2005 under the name Challenger; renamed Kaitaki 2007 | |
Former fleet
- MV AramoanaAramoana (ferry)Government Motor Vessel Aramoana was a roll-on roll-off train ferry operating across the Cook Strait between 1962 and 1983.-History:...
(rail/road/passenger, 1962–1985) (rail/road/passenger, 1966–1985) (rail/road/passenger, 1972–2001) - MV AratikaAratika (ferry)The MV Aratika was a ferry that served the Interisland Line, taking passengers between Wellington and Picton in New Zealand. The aging Aratika, was replaced in 1999 by the since problem-plagued MV Aratere.- History :...
(rail/road/passenger, 1974–1999) (road freight only, to 2006)
The Lynx: Various High Speed Craft (HSC) have operated under this marketing name (all road/passenger): (chartered from Condor Ferries
Condor Ferries
Condor Ferries is an operator of ferry services between mainland England and the Channel Islands, between England and France, and between France and the Channel Islands.-Recent history:...
summer 1994, 1995) (chartered from Condor Ferries 1995-1999) (chartered 2000-2002) (also known as the "Devil Cat", chartered 2003-2005)