MV ''Kaitaki'' is a

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

ferry built in 1995. It previously operated under the names, ''Isle of Innisfree'', then ''Pride of Cherbourg'', ''Stena Challenger'' and ''Challenger''. As of 2008, MV ''Kaitaki'' was the largest ferry operating the ''

Interislander Interislander is a road and rail ferry service across New Zealand's Cook Strait, between Wellington in the North Island and Picton in the South Island. It is owned and operated by state-owned rail operator KiwiRail. Three roll-on roll-off (R ...

'' service between the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

and South Islands of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

having taken her latest name in 2007.

KiwiRail KiwiRail Holdings Limited is a New Zealand state-owned enterprise responsible for rail operations in New Zealand, and operates inter-island ferries. Trading as KiwiRail and headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, KiwiRail is the largest rail ...

, the operator of the ''Interislander'' service, bought the ''Kaitaki'' in 2017.

History

The ship was built at

Van der Giessen de Noord Van der Giessen de Noord () was a shipyard, shipbuilding company that mainly built ferry, ferries, located in Krimpen aan den IJssel, a town in the western Netherlands. The yard was especially suited to the construction of large Ship, vessels ...

shipyard in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, and was launched in 1995 as the ''Isle of Innisfree'' for the

Irish Ferries Irish Ferries is an Irish ferry and transport company that operates passenger and freight services on routes between Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, including Dublin Port–Holyhead; Rosslare Europort to Pembroke as well as Dublin ...

route between Holyhead and

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

. Subsequently she served on the Pembroke Dock – Rosslare route between 1997 and 2001. 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. ''Pride of Cherbourg'' entered service in September 2002. ''Pride of Cherbourg''s last crossing for P&O was on 14 January, from Cherbourg to Portsmouth. P&O subchartered her to Stena Roroand she sailed for Gdańsk, where all her exterior P&O branding was removed and she was renamed ''Stena Challenger''. The ''Stena Challenger'' sailed on Stena Line's Karlskrona—

Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in th ...

service from February until June 2005. After completing her service with Stena Line she was sub-chartered again, to

. Before leaving for New Zealand her name was shortened to ''Challenger'', with its Māori translation, ''Kaitaki'', also appearing on its bow, being used for marketing purposes (the other two Interislander ferries at the time, ''Arahura'' and ''Aratere'', had Māori names). In April 2007 the ship was renamed ''Kaitaki''. Like the ''Kaiarahi'' she is an Interislander ferry without a rail deck for the transport of railway wagons. In 2009, it was announced that the initial five-year lease would be extended. The lease has been renewed again on 16 April 2013 until 2017 with the option to extend another three years afterwards. In May 2017, KiwiRail purchased the ''Kaitaki'' outright from the

Irish Continental Group Irish Continental Group plc is an Irish shipping and transport group. Operating roll on/roll off passenger, freight and container freight services on routes between Ireland, the United Kingdom and Continental Europe. Irish Continental Group als ...

.KiwiRail buys Interislander ferry Kaitaki '' Track & Signal'' August 2017 page 35

References

External links

Kaitaki at the Interislander website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaitaki Cook Strait ferries 1995 ships Ships built in the Netherlands