MV Kaitaki
MV Kaitaki in Wellington Harbour
|
|
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: |
|
| Owner: | Irish Continental Group until 2017; since then KiwiRail |
| 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 |
| Completed: | 1995 |
| Acquired: | 15 May 1995 |
| In service: | 23 May 1995 |
| Identification: | IMO number: 9107942 |
| Status: | In service |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | ROPAX 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: |
|
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph) |
| Capacity: |
|
| Crew: | 60 |
MV Kaitaki is a ROPAX ferry built in 1995. She has previously operated under the names, Isle of Innisfree, then Pride of Cherbourg, Stena Challenger and Challenger. As of 2008, MV Kaitaki is the largest ferry providing 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 ferries, bought the Kaitaki in 2017.
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. She remained on that route for two years before being replaced by another vessel built by Van der Giessen de Noord, the Isle of Inishmore, which offered greater passenger and vehicle capacity. She then moved to the Pembroke Dock - Rosslare route, replacing the 1981-built Isle of Inishturk, where she remained for four years before again being replaced by the Isle of Inishmore, which herself had been replaced by the Ulysses.Isle of Innisfree was initially sent to Dublin for lay up and then to Le Havre, where she remained until July 2002.
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, 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, 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.
...
Wikipedia