One Aratere sailing that was expected to leave Wellington at 4.00pm today has now been cancelled. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Large swells have cancelled Cook Strait sailings on both the Interislander and Bluebridge ferries.
MetService has issued a gale warning for the Cook Strait, with winds of 35 knots expected to rise to 45 knots for a time on Wednesday evening with swells of about four metres.
The rough seas are expected to continue into Thursday, with winds expected to ease to 25 knots in the morning and to 10 knots by evening.
Interislander has cancelled one return sailing of its Aratere ferry. That sailing was expected to leave Wellington at 4.00pm and Picton at 8.50pm.
Interislander said all its passengers had been moved to alternative sailings.
Bluebridge has meanwhile cancelled four sailings.
On Wednesday, its 7.15pm service from Picton and 8.30pm service from Wellington are cancelled.
It has also cancelled Thursday's 2.00am sailing from Wellington and the 2.30am sailing from Picton.
Bluebridge said all its affected customers had been advised.
Both ferry services said they were monitoring the forecast closely and would provide updates on their websites if there were further disruptions.
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