Cook Strait ferry passengers have been forced to spend Wednesday night on board one of Interislander's ships after it ran into problems.
The Kaitaki departed Wellington for Picton at 8.30pm on Wednesday but started developing "steering issues" just outside of Wellington's heads.
An Interislander spokesman told Newshub the ships' master made the decision to return to the capital but had to anchor in the harbour.
Despite the ship retaining full steering control via backup systems, crews decided it would be safer to not berth as no tugs were available until 6am on Thursday.
The spokesman said there are only a small number of passengers onboard - primarily commercial vehicle drivers - and everyone was provided a cabin for the night.
Engineers are working quickly to fix the issue but warned there will be delays to some sailings on Thursday, the spokesman said.
"We are holding this morning's Aratere sailing so it can take some of the passengers," he said. "We apologise to the passengers for this disruption and are working to resolve the issue as quickly as we can."
