Page 14 — MONDAY, AUGUST 13, 2012 The Marlborough Express FERRY TALE CELEBRATION Interislander ranks with the Beehive and Edmonds Cookery book INNOVATION IN A CHALLENGING Interislander This year we celebrate 50 years of moving These days, Interislanders three ferries has become a freight and passengers across Cook Strait. Kaitaki, Aratere and Arahura make around ENVIRONMENT true Kiwi symbol. On 13 August 1962 the rst ferry to link the 4,500 sailings a year carrying some 785,000 Not many New North and South Island started a once-a-day When Aramoana passengers, 52,000 rail wagons, 72,000 trucks went into service in Zealanders can say they return service. In her rst year of service the and 210,000 cars. 1962 she changed the have not travelled on the ferry at least once. Aramoana carried 207,000 passengers, 46,000 nature of inter-island The service has become so well known, it cars and 181,000 tonnes of freight. This equates to over 231 thousand nautical transport. sea miles a year. Thats a lot or miles, a lot of Roll-on-roll-off featured as the I on The A to Z of New Zealand In the intervening years, she and her vessels made it stamp series in 2008 along with the Beehive, successors have carried more than 35 passengers and as our customers tell us, a lot possible for rail Edmonds and the Haka. million people. of great experiences. wagons and vehicles to be loaded directly onto the ship and off again at destination. It was a step change in meeting the needs of the supply chain and it came at a time when the flow of freight, particularly from Cook-Strait ferries changed the nature of shipping in New Zealand north to south, was accelerating. Aramoana was also a considerable The introduction of the first Cook giant P&O, The Union Company was the Brothers Ltd of Dumbarton on the Clyde passengers, 46,000 motor vehicles and 60,000 passengers and only 14,000 tonnes advance in moving people in the age before Strait ferry Aramoana in 1962, introduced major player on the New Zealand coast was successful, possibly as a result of their 181,000 tonnes of freight. of freight in her last year. budget airline tickets and at a time when the concept of roll-on-roll-off freight and the trans-Tasman route. long association with Union Steam Ship The numbers were double the target The new service was immediately New Zealand’s appeal as a tourism and changed the nature of shipping in Historian Gavin Mclean in his history Company vessels. set and in the case of passengers, more profitable. In 1967 by the time the second destination was growing. New Zealand. of the New Zealand Shipping Federation Interestingly, Aramoana was the last than double. By comparison, Tamahine ferry Aranui was in service, the profit for Providing a service across Cook Strait is Previously, ships had been loaded and says the Union Company's short- ship to be built at the yard before it closed. had carried the year was almost half a million pounds. all about relevance. It’s a matter of providing unloaded using cranes. Having road and sightedness in not introducing a more The ship was to cost approximately four what customers want when they want it, rail cargo loaded directly dramatically modern replacement opened Federation million pounds and be delivered in as far as the vagaries of weather, sea and a reduced turn-around times and costs. members up to the risk of their arch-rival, May 1962. rugged coastline allow. “The arrival of Aramoana was one of New Zealand Railways, running a roll- Aramoana was launched on 24 One thing that hasn’t changed in 50 years the most significant events in the nation’s on-roll-off ferry. November 1961 and entered Wellington is the physical challenge that Cook Strait transport history,” says Ray Munro, a “It was a fatal mistake,” he says. harbour on schedule. provides. Changeable weather, treacherous railwayman who was one of the central “Within little more than a decade, almost At the time, there were plenty of seas and an unforgiving coastline have tested figures in setting up the original Rail all general cargo travelling between the doubters that a roll-on-roll-off vessel the skills and endurance of masters and crew. Road Ferry office and accepted the first islands would switch from conventional would be successful. Hugh Jones was the We owe a considerable debt to the bookings for Aramoana. coasters to Aramoana and her fleet mates.” Marine Department naval architect who dedication and skills of our crews who do “For the first time, a vehicle or railway The Union Company’s decisiondesigned Aramoana. their best to provide comfortable and safe wagons could be driven aboard a ship triggered an enquiry by the Cook Strait “The media said the whole thing crossings for our customers, regardless of in one island and driven off in the other Transport Enquiry Committee in 1958. was a ‘red herring’,” he recalls. “In their the weather. without having its load disturbed.” It considered a number of options, view, if the Union Steam Ship Company The 50th anniversary also gives us an He said the service dramatically including improving the air link for freight couldn’t make the service pay, Railways opportunity to acknowledge the support stimulated inter-island traffic and South between Blenheim and Wellington. But in definitely couldn’t. of the commercial vehicle operators and Island tourism while it also sealed the fate the end, the committee decided that a roll- “People said it wasn’t going to work. passengers who have been loyal customers of conventional coastal freighters. on-roll-off ferry service, operating daily When Aramoana arrived, either the over the years, and without whom, there Aramoana was the result of a decision except for Sundays, was the best option. Dominion or the Evening Post described would be no Interislander. by the Union Steam Ship Company in In March 1960, world-wide tenders her as the ‘ugliest ship in the world’, ” 1957 not to replace the ageing Tamahine were invited to build the first rail ferry. But the so-called “ugly duckling” Thomas Davis General Manager, Interislander on the Wellington-Picton route. Twenty-four tenders were received. proved the doubters wrong. In her first The magic moment. Transport Minister John McAlpine cuts the ribbon to allow Owned since 1917 by British shipping The Scottish firm, William Denny and year of service, the ship carried 207,000 vehicles to drive off Aramoana at the end of her first commercial sailing in August 1962. FERRY FACTS No time lost extending inter-island agnicent twele ferry eet beyond Aramoana Eight conventional and four fast ferries Before Aramoana had completed her Aramoana had been withdrawn from have sailed on Cook Strait in the colours of first year’s service, the planning began for service in March 1983. Arahura’s arrival New Zealand Railways, SeaRail, Interisland a sister ship. enabled Aranui to be withdrawn in June Line and the Interislander. Named Aranui – in Maori “great 1984. In the 1990s, the need to replace pathway” – the new vessel entered service ageing ferries became the main driver Last orders on 9 June 1966. for fleet management. By 1990,Arahanga Arahanga was Arahanga, “the bridge” broke new had been in service 18 years and Aratika the last passenger ground as a mainly cargo ferry, although 16 years. ship to be built by she could carry 40 passengers. The answer wasAratere , “quick path” the famous Clyde- Aratika, “direct path” was built in built for Tranz Rail in 1998 by Spanish side shipyard France at a cost of $8.8 million. She ship-builders Astillero Barreras at a cost of John Brown and Company, builder of was similar to Arahanga in size and of $132 million. She came into service in such famous ships as the Queen Mary and speed and was also intended to mainly 1999, replacing Aratika. Queen Elizabeth. carry cargo. But two years after entering Arahanga remained in service service, she was given a $7 million refit to for another two years. When she was Air supply accommodate 800 passengers as well as withdrawn, her commercial vehicle cargo One of the stranger episodes in the history cars and rail wagons. role was filled for almost three years by Aratere of Cook Strait ferry services was the use of Arahura, “pathway to dawn” entered the chartered vessel Purbeck. Last year’s extension of the was one of the most ambitious projects in the history of the interisland service. service in December 1983 as the flagship By 2005, Toll New Zealand was The ship went to Singapore’s Sembawang shipyard in late April 2011 for an extension that would take six months to aircraft to move passengers and vehicles when of the fleet. She was bigger, faster and operating the interislander ferry services. complete and add 30 percent to the ship’s capacity. The work also included a new bow and new stern being fitted, sailings were halted by industrial action. Aratere’s more comfortable than her predecessors The company chartered the 181-metre improvements to the propulsion system and to the passenger accommodation. The new mid-body doubled Airforce Hercules and SAFEAIR Bristol and included innovations such as a heli- long Challenger, renamed Kaitaki, to passenger capacity to 600, added 28 percent more rail lane metres and a greater uplift in tonnes, as well as 32 percent Freighters operated between Blenheim and more commercial vehicle space enabling the ship to carry another 12 to 14 trucks.