Some ferry services have been cancelled this morning due to large swells forecast for Cook Strait from early today.
Ferry operator Interislander announced the cancellations due to “strong southerly swells”.
“As a result, we have cancelled two morning sailings of Aratere, the 6.15am from Wellington and the 11am return from Picton,” the ferries operator said.
“All passengers have been shifted to other sailings.”
In all, Bluebridge announced six services between Picton and Wellington were cancelled due to “storm force” winds: Tthe 2am, 8.15am and 1.30pm sailings from Wellington and the 2.30am, 7.45am, and 7.15pm sailings from Picton.
MetService has a strong wind watch in place for Wellington with gale force southerlies, gusting to 100km/h in exposed places. The high winds would be accompanied by rain, possibly heavy, but easing to isolated showers this morning.
Interislander noted the swells were due to slowly ease from Tuesday afternoon.
In a statement to 1News, a KiwiRail spokesperson said: “The safety of our passengers and crew is paramount and we constantly monitor marine conditions, and the weather and do not sail if it is unsafe to do so.
“We have weather-related sailing criteria which is strictly followed when planning and executing sailings.
The spokesperson said the 8.45 am sailing of Kaitaki went ahead as the weather conditions were within permissible limits. “However, the sailing has been slightly delayed to allow for conditions to ease.
“The weather is watched continually by our operations team and swell heights have been trending downwards in last 72 hours, well within operating limits for Kaitaki.”
