The quake stuck around 200km north of Christchurch on NZ's South Island, causing the destruction of many sections of Highway One as well as eight rail bridges and 14km of track. The North Island port of Wellington also suffered major damage and has been closed to most land and sea operations for at least seven days.

While Interisland Line's ARATERE and Strait Shipping's STRAITSMAN and STRAIT FERONIA were anchored in Wellington Harbour and unaffected, KAIAHARI could not berth to discharge passengers and vehicles at Picton for 12 hours until facilities could be checked.

While limited Cook Strait services have resumed from usable facilities, Wellington's rail linkspan is broken and ARATERE cannot load rail wagons – which, in any case, could not travel much further south than Picton anyway.

Interisland Line owner KiwiRail is investigating the possibility of running ferries from Wellington to Lyttelton and has also marshalled NZ's coastal container service and international carriers to move peak-season freight between the North and South Island.
The government estimates the quake damage will cost billions of dollars to repair and may take many months to complete.

© Shippax / Dale Crisp