Passengers are stuck on both sides of the Cook Strait, sleeping in their cars and on the floor of the ferry terminal after a “total balls-up” of the ferries.

The Bluebridge’s Strait Feronia has been cancelled again after an engineering issue which occurred yesterday.

The ship had just returned to service after being sent for a routine dry dock in Sydney in February. The engineering issue meant the ship was forced to dock in Picton overnight and sailed without passengers to Wellington on Monday.

The passengers who were planning to sail with their vehicles have been told the only option is a full refund, as the ships are too booked to rebook more vehicles.

For Waikato man Rob and his wife, it means more company in their queue for the ferry. The couple were supposed to sail from Picton to Wellington on the April 1, but bad weather meant their passage was cancelled.

They were rebooked for the 16th – but with nowhere to go, the couple are now camped out at a service station and checking the terminal three times a day to see if standby sailing has become available.

Rob told the Herald the situation was “a total balls-up”.

“We were told to go on standby, so every day we go to the line at 6am, 11am and 5pm to check and see if anyone has failed to show up. One guy got so frustrated he kicked down the door at the terminal, and tempers are definitely rising a little bit.”

He said he and his wife are among the lucky ones – they have a caravan they can live in, but others are not so lucky. Some people are sleeping on the floor of the terminal, others are crammed into their cars.

Rob’s wife said she felt terrible for young families and tourists who have had to book accommodation while they wait.

• Would-be Cook Strait ferry passenger on Interislander's lack of communication
• Stranded Cook Strait ferry passengers have ‘strong case’ for payout
• Cook Strait ferry woes deepen as new Bluebridge ferry has engine problems
• Transporting NZ CEO calls for Government intervention into Cook Strait ferry failures

“For some people it will be costing them money and it will be money they haven’t planned on spending.”

She said although the pair are booked to sail on the 16th, she has little faith it will come to pass.

“I don’t have faith. I’ll believe it when I’m on the boat.”

On the other side of the Cook Strait in Wellington, an Invercargill man who had travelled to buy a ute in the North Island says he is now stuck in the capital for at least two weeks.

The man, who wished to remain anonymous, told NZME he arrived at the terminal around 9.30pm last night where around 100 others were also waiting.

He was supposed to sail on the Strait Feronia to Picton but with the most recent cancellation, he’s now looking at a delay of several weeks as Bluebridge works to cope with excess passengers.

“Are we a third-world country? Are we trying to book a train in India or what?”

He said his business will suffer as a result.

“I work for myself, I can’t do any invoicing.... you spend $50,000 on a car and then you have it stuck in the North Island for two weeks and you have to come back to get it...are they going to cover the flights? Probably not.

“They should be offering rather than standing there acting like nothing is a problem. They should be coming out and telling people rather than having to ask for updates.”

He said Bluebridge had not offered any food or water to those waiting in the queue – except for a container of small cookies on the help desk.

StraitNZ Bluebridge spokesman Will Dady confirmed all four Feronia sailings have been cancelled, and said further cancellations were possible.

“We are hugely disappointed for our customers and apologise unreservedly for the disruption to their plans.”

Dady says passengers on cancelled sailings are being offered a full refund and the company will work with those impacted on a case-by-case basis regarding additional costs incurred.

Passengers booked on cancelled sailings are asked not to travel to Bluebridge ferry terminals due to the potential impact of increased traffic on other scheduled sailings.