{"id":353267,"date":"2026-03-29T05:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T05:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/353267\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T05:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T05:58:09","slug":"ferry-shutdown-more-bluebridge-sailings-cancelled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/353267\/","title":{"rendered":"Ferry shutdown: More Bluebridge sailings cancelled"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4KB0AV9_Connemara_Tug_assist_3_jfif.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"787\" alt=\"A Bluebridge spokesperson said there were no faults with the vessel and it was the masters decision to request support in high or gusty winds.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nThe fault on the Connemara ferry is taking longer to fix than expected.<br \/>\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Bill Hickman\n<\/p>\n<p>More Bluebridge ferry sailings have been cancelled after a fault on one of its ships.<\/p>\n<p>The technical fault on the Connemara means tonight&#8217;s Wellington to Picton 8.30pm service will not happen.<\/p>\n<p>Services tomorrow are also cancelled.<\/p>\n<p>It is the latest in a string of canned sailings for the ship, which have lasted more than a week.<\/p>\n<p>The Connemara usually sails up to four times daily between Wellington and Picton.<\/p>\n<p>Bluebridge said there were limited options for re-booking.<\/p>\n<p>StraitNZ Bluebridge apologised &#8220;unreservedly&#8221; on Friday for the disruption but would not elaborate on what the fault was, just that it was taking longer than anticipated to fix.<\/p>\n<p>Maritime NZ confirmed it would undertake its own inspection of the vessel to ensure safety standards were being met, but did not provide a timeframe.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/radionz.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=211a938dcf3e634ba2427dde9&amp;id=b3d362e693\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fault on the Connemara ferry is taking longer to fix than expected. Photo: RNZ \/ Bill Hickman&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":["post-353267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}