By RNZ

KiwiRail says it is putting more time into maintaining its Cook Strait ferry fleet after assessments by international experts.

The fate of the three ageing ferries hangs in the balance after KiwiRail was forced to cancel an order for two new ships and put ferry terminal redevelopment on hold.

Norwegian maritime firm Det Norske Veritas visited New Zealand last month as part of its checks.

As a result, KiwiRail had added more weekly and monthly maintenance checks, and longer time in dry docks for serious maintenance work.

“DNV has undertaken assessments of all three ships’ asset condition, and our enterprise approach to asset management systems, processes and capability and its recommendations are now being actioned across the fleet.”

It was also taking advice from the Norwegians on capital investment that might extend the ferries’ life.

KiwiRail was also working on a new fleet replacement strategy since the government torpedoed the project it was counting on, after a cost blowout to almost $3 billion.

The ferries’ mechanical problems culminated in the Kaitaki drifting powerless in the strait a year ago.

KiwiRail said this summer the ferries were 99.6 per cent reliable and on time for 91 per cent of journeys, which exceeded “even the best operators in the global aviation industry”.

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It had to write down the value of its assets by almost $450m, forcing it into a big deficit, after the terminal and ferry upgrade project was scrapped.

The transport operator not only needs new ferries - even if the existing ones can be pushed beyond their 2026 shelf-life - but two new ports in Wellington and Picton, the company told MPs recently, but the onus was not on it any longer to drive that work.

- RNZ