Ferry sailings disrupted by gearbox fault
Holidaymakers travelling between Wellington and Picton face disruptions, with a Cook Strait ferry out of action for the rest of the week.
A gearbox fault has seen Bluebridge Ferries remove one of its ferries from service for unscheduled repairs.
A Bluebridge spokeswoman said passengers on cancelled sailings had been texted and emailed. The call centre was following up everyone affected to reschedule them on to other sailings or offer them a full refund, she said.
Simon Armour and Federica Rossi travelled from London and were supposed to be on a Bluebridge ferry yesterday for a booked walk on the Queen Charlotte Track, followed by a wedding in Marlborough on January 4.
Armour said he had called Bluebridge about 30 times, as well as emailing and Facebook messaging the company, but had heard nothing back – leaving the couple uncertain about what was going on.
They ended up driving to the terminal to get answers and found their ferry would be running, albeit seven hours late.
StraitNZ general manager commercial Ed Menzies said the ferry would be out of action for the rest of the week,
‘‘It is a hugely inconvenient time of year for this type of fault to occur, and we are doing everything we can to reaccommodate our freight customers and passengers as quickly as possible.’’
As many customers as possible would be rescheduled on to alternative sailings, and anyone who wanted a refund would receive one, he said.