KiwiRail confirmed in October that the Arahura (above) had been sold to European based buyers, and left Wellington on 3rd October for recycling at Alang in India.

The 13,621gt/1983 built Arahura had served the Interislander Wellington-Picton route in New Zealand since delivery in 1983. Her final passenger crossing took place in July 2015. The scrap metal from the ship is expected to fetch more than NZ$2.1 million.

The ship, nicknamed the “Quiet Achiever,” was the only ship in the Interislander fleet specifically designed for the often treacherous stretch of water, and has clocked up almost 13 million km, the equivalent of travelling 325 times around the world. The ferry’s capacity was for 1,085 passengers, 100 cars and 60 railway wagons and she carried more than 10 million passengers over 32 years.

Just over a week prior to this the Kaiarahi arrived in Wellington Harbour after a 13-day journey from Singapore where she was refitted and renamed from the Stena Alegra.