MV Kaitaki

MV Kaitaki is a roll-on/roll-off ferry built in 1995. It previously operated under the names, Isle of Innisfree, then Pride of Cherbourg, Stena Challenger and Challenger. As of 2008, MV Kaitaki was the largest ferry operating the Interislander service between the North and South Islands of New Zealand having taken her latest name in 2007. KiwiRail, the operator of the Interislander service, bought the Kaitaki in 2017.

For other ships with the same name, see Pride of Cherbourg.

MV Kaitaki in Wellington Harbour
History
Name:
  • 1995–2002: MV Isle of Innisfree
  • 2002–2005: MV Pride of Cherbourg
  • 2005: MV Stena Challenger
  • 2005–2007: MV Challenger
  • 2007 onwards: MV Kaitaki
Owner: Irish Continental Group (1995-2017), KiwiRail (2017-)
Operator:
Port of registry:
Route: Wellington to Picton (from 2005)
Builder: Van der Giessen de Noord, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Yard number: 963
Laid down: 3 August 1994
Launched: 1 January 1995
In service: 23 May 1995
Identification: IMO number: 9107942
Status: In service
Notes: [1]
General characteristics
Type: Roll-on/roll-off ferry
Tonnage:
Length: 181.6 m (596 ft)
Beam: 23.4 m (77 ft)
Draught: 5.30 m (17 ft 5 in)
Decks: 10
Installed power:
  • 4 x Sulzer Type 8 ZAL 40 S
  • 5,760 kW each at 510 rpm
Propulsion:
  • 2 propellers
  • 2 bow thrusters
Speed: 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph)
Capacity:
  • 1,350 passengers
  • 132 passenger berths
  • 600 cars
  • 1,780 lane metres
Crew: 60
Notes: [2]

History

The ship was built at Van der Giessen de Noord shipyard in the Netherlands, and was launched in 1995 as the Isle of Innisfree for the Irish Ferries route between Holyhead and Dublin.[1] She remained on that route for two years before being replaced by another vessel built by the Isle of Inishmore, which offered greater passenger and vehicle capacity. She then moved to the Pembroke Dock – Rosslare route, replacing the Isle of Inishturk, where she remained for four years[1] before again being replaced by the Isle of Inishmore. Isle of Innisfree was initially sent to Dublin for lay up and then to Le Havre, where she remained until July 2002.[1]

In 2002 the Isle of Innisfree was chartered by P&O Portsmouth and was sent to Falmouth in July of that year for refit. She emerged as Pride of Cherbourg,[1] the third ship to carry this name. Extra cabins were installed on deck 7 to make her more suitable for the longer Portsmouth-Cherbourg crossing, but while in service with P&O she was often criticized for not having enough cabins compared with the vessels she replaced. Pride of Cherbourg entered service in September 2002,[1] replacing the second Pride of Le Havre, and operated alongside the Pride of Hampshire until the end of the month when she was also withdrawn. P&O Portsmouth became part of P&O Ferries at the end of that year, but the Pride of Cherbourg did not receive the new colours of the company until her refit in 2004, which also removed most traces of her Irish Ferries roots, moved the club lounge to aft on deck 7 and introduced the same brand names for the facilities as on the Dover ships.

MV Kaitaki under her previous name MV Challenger in Wellington Harbour

On 28 September 2004 P&O Ferries announced the withdrawal of all its Portsmouth services except to Bilbao. Pride of Cherbourg's last crossing for P&O was on 14 January,[1] from Cherbourg to Portsmouth. P&O subchartered her to Stena Roro as a short-term replacement for Stena Baltica, which was undergoing rebuilding work. Pride of Cherbourg sailed for Gdańsk, where all her exterior P&O branding was removed and she was renamed Stena Challenger. The Stena Challenger sailed on Stena Line's Karlskrona—Gdynia service from February until June 2005.[1] After completing her service with Stena Line she was sub-chartered again, to KiwiRail.[3] Before leaving for New Zealand her name was shortened to Challenger,[1] with its Māori translation, Kaitaki, also appearing on its bow, being used for marketing purposes (the other two Interislander ferries at the time, Arahura and Aratere has Māori names). In April 2007 the ship was renamed Kaitaki.[1] Like the Kaiarahi she is an Interislander ferry without a rail deck for the transport of railway wagons.[4]

In 2009, it was announced that the initial five-year lease would be extended.[3] The lease has been renewed again on 16 April 2013 until 2017 with the option to extend another three years afterwards.[5] In May 2017, KiwiRail purchased the Kaitaki outright from the Irish Continental Group.[6][7]

References
  1. Asklander, Micke. "M/S Isle of Innisfree (1995)". Fakta om Fartyg (in Swedish). Retrieved 12 December 2008.
  2. "Facts and Figures – Kaitaki | Interislander". Interislander. Retrieved 12 December 2008.
  3. "Three more years for Interisland ferry". Wellington.Scoop. Retrieved 4 October 2009.
  4. "Strait ferries weigh on government books". Television New Zealand. Retrieved 4 October 2009.
  5. "KiwiRail to renew Kaitaki lease". marlborough-express. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  6. "KiwiRail buys the Kaitaki passenger ferry 'to secure future of Cook Strait link'". New Zealand Herald. 17 May 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  7. KiwiRail buys Interislander ferry Kaitaki Track & Signal August 2017 page 35

Media related to Kaitaki (ship, 1995) at Wikimedia Commons

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