Kiwirail's boss has admitted its Interislander Aratere ferry running aground in Picton Harbour is "not good" for the brand's reputation.
On Friday night, the Aratere ran aground 3km north of Picton with 47 people - most of whom were crew - on board.
Shortly after 9pm on Saturday, the ferry was successfully refloated 24-hours after it came to a halt.
Locals in Picton have slammed the grounding, with one person calling it "totally embarrassing" and comparing New Zealand to a third world country.
The stranded vessel also came just days after Transport Minister Simeon Brown criticised the state-owned company for its handling of ferry maintenance.
KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy and Interislander executive general manager Duncan Roy fronted a press conference on Sunday morning after the ferry had been refloated.
Reidy defended the safety of the ships, telling media he would happily "take my own family on those ships".
However, he did admit the grounding was "not good" for the company's reputation.
"You have an incident like this, it's obviously not good… We are very disappointed with what has happened over the past 24 hours."
But he added in the past 18 months there's been "a large increase" in customer satisfaction.
"Our customer experience ratings have been improving, I can point to our global international tourists that come on board, I can point to record passenger volumes for February - March, I can point to the reliability in the last nine months and our on-time performance, however we've just had an incident so we just need to be calm, focus on that."
Reidy's comments come amid an ongoing investigation into what happened.
"We've just had an incident so there are questions to ask about what happened there, but also I can say there's been a very, very strong integrated approach to our asset management cost of business. But like any business, it's all about improvement and performance."
Roy added that the vessel had "very minimal damage" and was watertight.
He also said the full moon helped with tides to refloat the vessel, which was being brought into port on Sunday morning. A "more permanent berth" would be arranged on Monday.
Roy couldn't give any indication as to when the ferry would be operational again.
Maritime NZ placed the Aratere under a detention order on Saturday night.
"This will enable Maritime NZ to work closely with Aratere's Classification Society and KiwiRail to understand what has occurred, and what action needs to happen, before the vessel is able to move safely again and can be released," Maritime NZ Director Kirstie Hewlett said in a statement.
