The Kaitaki, which sailed from the capital for Picton at 8.30pm last night, returned to Wellington and remained anchored in the harbour after developing issues with its steering just outside of the Wellington heads.
"It retained full steering control, via backup systems," an Interislander spokesman said in a statement.
With tugs being unavailable, the ship's master decided on safety ground it would not berth at Kaiwharawhara.
The tugs became available around 7am today and Kaitaki is now at the berth.
"There were only a small number of passengers onboard, primarily commercial vehicle drivers. Each was provided a cabin for the night," Interislander said.
Its engineers were working to fix the issue and there would be delays to some sailings today as a result.
"We held this morning's Aratere sailing so it could take some of the passengers."
It apologised to the passengers for the disruption and was working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
