Passengers on an Interislander ferry were forced to spend the night on board after a fault with the steering left the boat stranded.

An Interislander spokesperson told the Herald the Kaitaki was anchored in the harbour after the steering issue arose just outside Wellington heads last night.

The ship had set sail from Wellington to Picton at 8.30pm last night, but only made it a short while before the issue with the steering occurred.

Although the ship did regain total control, the ship master decided not to berth as no tugs were available until 7am this morning.

The spokesperson said there were only a small number of passengers aboard the ferry, most of whom were commercial vehicle drivers. Everyone was provided a cabin for the night.

“Our engineers are working to fix the issue and there will be delays to some sailings today as a result. We are holding this morning’s Aratere sailing so it can take some of the passengers. We apologise to the passengers for this disruption and are working to resolve the issue as quickly as we can.”

Harbour master Grant Naalder told the Herald the problem was with the steering control, not the steering itself so the situation was not an emergency. Deciding not to berth back in the harbour the same evening was a precaution.

Naalder said the tugs work around scheduled shipping routes, and as the situation was not an emergency, it was better to wait until one became available in the morning.

He said the ship had berthed with the precautionary assistance of a tug early on Thursday morning.

-More to come

Vita Molyneux is a Wellington-based journalist who covers breaking news and stories from the capital. She has been a journalist since 2018 and joined the Herald in 2021.