Auckland ferry services were disrupted for an hour on Friday, January 27th, after a mooring line problem on the HAL-Holland America's cruise ship ms Noordam.
The vessel arrived in Auckland Friday morning and berthed at Princes Wharf.
Ports of Auckland (New Zealand) confirmed the problem had occurred at ~11:15 a.m. prompting the moored ship to use her engines to help keep her place alongside the wharf.
The wash created by the engines of Noordam in the confined "ferry basin" meant that incoming ferries couldn't dock/leave for ~1 hour.
Ports of Auckland said that one of the mooring ropes had snapped in windy conditions in the ferry basin.
On Twitter, Ports of Auckland posted the following:
“It’s a wild weather day in Tamaki Makaurau. For safety reasons, the Noordam cruise ship had to start propulsion at 11 am today. We alerted AT and the ferrying companies immediately but it did impact ferry services. This is now resolved. Thanks for your patience. Stay safe.”
According to the spokesperson, there were significant gusts of wind in the region as ms Noordam was reattached.
On Friday afternoon, January 27th, New Zealand national weather services issued a "severe thunderstorm warning" in a number of regions including the city of Auckland.
For more ms Noordam incidents and accidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.