KEY POINTS:
The car ferry which was slipped from its moorings and grounded has been refloated.
The Far North District Council reported this afternoon that the ferry would be returned to service after an inspection found little damage.
Hokianga Harbour residents awoke to see their cross-harbour vehicular and passenger ferry high and dry on mudflats well away from its usual overnight berth at Rawene.
In an act of what authorities are calling vandalism, the 35-metre, 175 tonne Kohu Ra Tuarua was deliberately set adrift from its night time berth at Rawene wharf sometime during last night.
The vessel drifted in darkness on an incoming tide into the mouth of the Waima River about 3km away where it was left undamaged but stranded when the tide went out.
No cars or passengers were on board at the time and the ferry was to be refloated at high tide late this afternoon.
Hokianga ferry manager Grant Potter said an inspection of the vessel had shown no damage but it had been "a quite deliberate act" to let the mooring lines go when it was parked up overnight.
Security around the ferry would be "ramped up" from now on and police had been told of the incident.
Rawene senior constable Jeff Cramp said it was the first time in his nearly 13 years in the town that anything like that had happened.
The mooring ropes were not light, he said, and it would have taken several people to cast them off.
The ferry company advised travellers through road signs and notices on local radio stations that there would be no sailings until late today or tomorrow.
The Kohu Ra Tuarua usually makes 28 harbour crossings a day each way at this time of the holiday season taking passengers and vehicles from Rawene to The Narrows at Kohukohu on the north side of the harbour and vice versa.
The Kohu Ra Tuarua ferry, operated by Impact Services Ltd under contract to the Far North District Council, normally operates every half-hour, but a passenger service-only has replaced it for the day.
