Almost echoing the humorous Australian TV sketch “the front fell off” relating to an oil tanker, one propeller fell off of the Tranzrail, New Zealand, ferry Aratere in November. The 17,816gt, 1998 built ferry was delivered from a Spanish shipyard and has provided her owners with numerous operational headaches ever since. Such have been the problems that the ship became known as “El Lemon.”

In 2011 the Aratere underwent a $52 million refit at the Sembawang shipyard in Singapore to increase her capacity from 360 to 600 passengers. The refit also included a new bow and stern and a new 30 metre section amidships. However, the problems have not stopped and now a propeller was lost on 5th November when a drive shaft snapped. Larger propellers were fitted during her rebuild but the other parts of her propulsion equipment were seemingly not modified accordingly. The Aratere has already cost Tranzrail $130 million and will now be sent to Singapore for yet more expense. Whether or not the ship will be allowed to sail herself there, or be towed, remains to be seen. The passage could take around 3 weeks.

The lost propeller was found just outside Tory Channel in 120 metres of water and will be recovered when the weather permits. The Aratere could be out of service for around six months so Tranzrail has secured the charter of the 22,152gt/1998 built Stena Alegra. This former UK vessel (ex-Norman Trader/built as Dawn Merchant) had just been replaced by another ex-UK ship, the 22,308gt/2007 built Stena Baltica (ex-Cotentin) on the Karlskrona-Gdynia service from 24th November.

The Stena Alegra departed from Helsingborg for her winter holiday in the southern hemisphere on 1st December, was approaching the Caribbean islands 7 days later and was expected at her destination around 18th December. Having been towed from lay up on the River Fal and refitted by Stena Ro-Ro the Stena Alegra had been in service on the Baltic since July 2013.