The Strait Feronia. Photo: Bluebridge / supplied
Passengers booked on Bluebridge's Strait Feronia ferry say they are "stranded" as the ship has not been sailing due to mechanical problems.
Wellington Harbourmaster Grant Nalder confirmed the Strait Feronia did not sail on Thursday, nor had it sailed on Friday morning.
The ship had mechanical problems which would not have been "critical" because there were redundancy measures in place, but still needed fixing, Nalder said.
"It wouldn't have been an issue at sea, but obviously you get it right before you go out, and that's what they're working on.
"Once the work's done it's got to be checked off by a surveyor, and then they'll be underway again."
Nalder did not know how long that would take.
Equestrians and their horses heading north for Horse of the Year, which starts in Hawke's Bay on Monday, were among those stuck in the South Island.
Shaun Ashton's wife,14-year-old daughter and her horse had travelled up from Christchurch and were due to on the 7.30am Friday sailing from Picton.
Ashton said it was "piss poor" that he was informed of its cancellation three minutes after the Bluebridge call centre closed on Thursday night.
"There's a lot of people sitting at the equestrian park in Blenheim, scrambling, trying to figure out what they're going to do," he said.
"You can't just park up somewhere and just wait, because you've got a horse sitting in a float."
Thanks to the "amazing" work of a Bluebridge staff member on Friday morning, the pair had been re-booked for Friday afternoon.
But Ashton would only cancel the Interislander booking he made for Saturday - just in case - when they were on board and setting sail, he said.
He said the communication on Thursday night was not good enough, and his wife and daughter were distraught because they had no idea whether they would make the competition.
"Sending that message out at three minutes past eight last night - well that's when we received them - and not having the call centre open, to me that's piss poor," Ashton said.
"If they knew the boat was still in Wellington yesterday, why did they not send out the alert or ring people and say, hey look ... this boat's not going to be going, can we reshuffle you."
The email Bluebridge sent to Ashton, seen by RNZ, said the vessel had an engineering issue.
"We're really sorry that we've had to cancel this sailing, and we understand this will be disruptive to your travel plans, so we're letting you know as early as possible," it said.
Andrew Hill was booked on the Strait Feronia due to leave Picton at 1.30pm on Friday. He had his fingers crossed it would go ahead, because he was travelling to get to a friend's wedding in Nelson.
Hill called Bluebridge on Thursday to ask whether it would be sailing, and said the company seemed to be overwhelmed dealing with that day's cancellations.
"Staff were really approachable and reasonable," he said. "They told me that it was an engine issue and that a component was being replaced and that they were going to know after 7.30 pm if it had worked in the harbour, but then they needed to sea trial it."
On Friday morning he was still not sure whether his trip would go ahead.
Other affected passengers wrote on social media they were "stranded" in Picton and could not rebook.
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