New Zealand ropax said to have suffered minimal damage after spending a night on the rocks

New Zealand state-owned ferry operator KiwiRail says its ropax that ran aground near the port of Picton on New Zealand’s South Island late on Friday night suffered no hull breaches and minimal damage despite spending 24 hours on an inhospitable coastline.

The grounding of the 17,800-gt ferry Aratere (built 1998) occurred shortly after the vessel departed Picton at 19:45 local time on Friday night.