People have been turning out in Picton to get a glimpse of the stranded Aratere, which is visible from parts of the seaside town.

A ‘slight delay’ to the handover of the first of two ferries being built at Ferguson Marine for CalMac has been announced.

The Interislander ferry only recently underwent wet dock maintenance, which included the replacement of its steering system.

The grounding of the Aratere ferry is a wake-up call for the coalition government to invest in new vessels and infrastructure, critics say.

Nadine Taylor says the grounding of the Aratere near Picton has raised questions about how KiwiRail is looking after its Interislander ferries.

The Aratere has been refloated - but when it's back in Picton can't move again until it gets the all-clear from investigators.

The government has said the timing is not related to the recent grounding of the state-owned enterprise's ferry Aratere.

The Aratere grounding shows the fragility of the link between the North and South islands, Transporting NZ says.

The government was "highly unimpressed" with KiwiRail's ferry maintenance standards, Simeon Brown said earlier this week.

Six Muslim prisoners in Russia seized a senior penal official and a guard on June 16 in the hopes of being released. At least three of the attackers...