Stena Alegra cleared for service

The Stena Alegra, the replacement Interislander ferry for the crippled Aratere, returns to port after breaking down. Photo / SNPA/Ross Setford

A replacement ferry brought in to provide cover for Interislander's out-of-service Aratere was back in action this evening after it broke down in Wellington today, less than a week into service.

The Stena Alegra, Aratere's interim replacement ship, was cleared to resume service following the problem this morning.

"Around 5am this morning, the freight-only sailing suffered a partial loss of power on its departure from Wellington which affected some of the control systems for one of the propellers.

"The source of the fault has been identified and repaired and the ship will resume service at 5pm this evening for its scheduled passenger sailing from Wellington," KiwiRail said in a statement.

The fault resulted in the cancellation of this morning's freight-only sailing from Wellington and the 9.05am passenger sailing from Picton.

"We apologise to our customers for the disruption this fault caused and thank them for their patience," Interislander general manager Thomas Davis said.

The Stena Alegra, which began sailings across Cook Strait on Monday, had been ordered from Europe for the busy summer period after the Aratere lost a propeller on an interisland trip in November.