Auckland’s aging ferry fleet: why do boats break down and who maintains them?

After five Auckland’s ferries broke down simultaneously on Tuesday morningan Auckland Transport spokesman has said “some breakdowns and technical issues” are expected as the city’s aging ferry fleet approaches the end of its economic life.

The morning disturbances were followed by that afternoon a reported fire in a ferry engine room on the way to Half Moon Bay.

The many disruptions raise questions about the maintenance of ferries.

Gareth Willis, AT’s subway contract manager, said in November that the new contracts signed in mid-2022 will include “enhanced vessel maintenance standards.”

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In July, AT signed several agreements with Fullers360, including AT’s purchase of four ferries from the ferry company – D5, Tirikat, Starflyte and Walker.

One of these boats, Starflyte, was one of the ships hit on Tuesday and had a bilge problem.

At the time, when announcing the purchase of the ferries, AT stated that the four ferries have “come to a point where some work needs to be done to ensure they can be operated efficiently and reliably for the rest of their life”. .

Buying the boats was part of that the transition of Auckland’s fleet of commuter ferries to public ownership and the plan is to retrofit those four ferries with lower-emission engines.

The $15 million cost of purchasing and refurbishing the boats is expected to reduce taxpayers’ remaining lifetime costs.

Although AT now owns these boats, Fullers is obligated to maintain the vessels as part of its operating contracts, AT spokesman Blake Crayton-Brown said.

New operating contracts worth an estimated $361 million were also signed in July for Fullers360 to provide passenger services from central Auckland to Devonport, Half Moon Bay and Hobsonville Point and Beach Haven over 12 years, as well as services to Gulf Harbor for six year.

AT estimates that tariff revenues will cover more than half of these costs, with the balance coming from Auckland Council and Waka Kotahi.

Public carriers contracted by the transit agency are subject to service performance requirements with penalties for non-compliance, Crayton-Brown said.

“Under the new contract, Fullers will be penalized for failure to provide services if due to reasons beyond their control (e.g. ship failure),” he said.

The ferry company will not be penalized for cancellations beyond its control, such as bad weather.

“Following yesterday’s outages and maintenance issues, we have had a number of discussions with the Fullers360 team who are investigating the cause of each outage,” said Crayton-Brown.

“The initial investigation shows that the failures were unexpected and unrelated to any shortcomings in the maintenance program. While AT awaits completion of new vessels now under design, we will continue to work with Fullers360 to ensure the existing fleet is as reliable as possible.”

He said Fullers was experiencing disruptions in the supply chain of some maintenance parts, delaying the return to service of some ships after regular maintenance.

Since Tuesday’s outages, AT has reiterated “clear expectations about the maintenance standards and service performance of ferry routes provided by Fullers360,” he said.