Stopgap ferry on its last crossing

THE Swedish-owned Stena Alegra, which replaced the problemplagued Interislander ferry Aratere, is scheduled to make its last Cook Strait crossing late tonight.

Stena Alegra disappears from Interislander’s website timetable, at the end of its six-month charter, after a 10.15pm sailing from Picton to Wellington.

It is scheduled to make its final sailing out of Wellington Harbour to Picton at 5pm this afternoon.

The 21,000 tonne Stena Alegra was built in Spain and chartered as a replacement for the Aratere, which lost its starboard propeller when a shaft snapped sailing from Picton to Wellington in November.

Like the Aratere, Stena Alegra had a troubled history during her sojourn on the Cook Strait run.

In its first month of service in January she broke down in Wellington Harbour with an engine problem.

Three months later she hit a wharf berthing in Wellington and suffered a six-metre gash to its hull above the waterline.

In May, Stena Alegra also suffered a propeller problem when part of a blade fell off when the ship was at sea. A temporary fix was undertaken when a propeller blade opposite the damaged one was trimmed back while the ship was in the water.

When Aratere sailed out of Wellington in February for a dry dock in Singapore, former KiwiRail chief executive Jim Quinn anticipated it would be back on the Cook Strait run in early May.

It is due to arrive back in Wellington on Wednesday and will undergo testing before going back into service.