The Maritime Union of New Zealand is concerned about the wellbeing of seafarers on board the former Interislander ferry Aratere, now called the Vega, which is anchored in Tasman Bay waiting to sail to India.
Maritime NZ said it did not know how many crew are on board or where they were from, but it took the welfare of seafarers extremely seriously and would continue to monitor the situation closely, and would take any action necessary to ensure compliance with all applicable international and domestic maritime regulations.
The Vega is waiting for consent to enter India, where it will be taken to a shipyard and dismantled.
Maritime Union NZ national secretary Carl Findlay said the Vega had been sitting at anchor in Tasman Bay for more than 50 days and the union had received reports about the wellbeing of crew members who had been on the ship for almost two months.
The union did not have any concerns about crew welfare on the Vega until it was contacted by RNZ.
Findlay said contracts obtained by the union showed the ship was registered to Jahaj Solutions (F.Z.E), which was based in the United Arab Emirates.
"This vessel was once the flagship of New Zealand's ferry fleet. It is now sitting off our coast with a foreign crew who are cut off from shore and on contracts that pay well below International Labour Organisation (ILO) minimum standards," he said.
Crew agreements viewed by the union showed an able seaman on board the ship was being paid a basic wage of $US206 ($NZ340) per month.
This was significantly below the ILO minimum basic wage for an able seafarer, which rose to $US690 ($NZ1140) per month on January 1, 2026, the union said.
Findlay said the total monthly pay for an able seaman is only $US550 ($NZ909), even with overtime and allowances, which was far below accepted international minimums.
He said the boat's agents and master had reported the crew were in good health and that provisions were being supplied but that needed to be independently verified.
The union wants Maritime NZ to conduct an immediate, independent welfare check on all crew members on the Vega to ensure they were safe, correctly paid and had the option to be repatriated if they wanted to leave the vessel.
As the Port State Control authority, Maritime NZ is able to carry out crew welfare inspections or interventions.
A spokesperson said there was no action currently underway or planned for the Vega by Maritime NZ.
"As is the case for any other foreign ship in our waters, if people have concerns about crew welfare, Maritime NZ asks them to notify us," they said.
"We understand from the vessel's master and agent that the crew are adequately provisioned and are doing well. We are making general enquiries with crew and relevant authorities regarding their wellbeing and will continue to monitor the situation."
Why hasn't the Vega left New Zealand?
KiwiRail announced last October that it had agreed to sell the Aratere to a buyer that would deliver it to a specialist recycling shipyard in India.
At the time, Interislander's executive general manager Duncan Roy said it had done due diligence and physical inspections of the shipyard in India.
"Once the buyer takes ownership of the ship it will be responsible for crewing its journey to the recycling yard subject to review by the Environmental Protection Authority," he said.
An Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) spokesperson said the Vega was awaiting an import consent from the Indian Competent Authority and there was no timeline for how long that would take.
The EPA said the application for the ship's export was complete and relevant application documents had been provided to the Indian Competent Authority.
"We cannot finalise the export application until the Indian Competent Authority has granted consent for import," the spokesperson said.
"We have not been provided a timeline for this process, but it is not unusual for these applications to take some time. The EPA continues to actively follow up on progress with the Indian Competent Authority and provide additional information if/where needed."
The ship remains the responsibility of the company that purchased it with the intention of exporting it to India.
