The Aratere ship, part of the state-owned Interislander fleet, veered into a cliff-face just north of its departure harbour of Picton about 9.45pm on Friday.
Interislander general manager Duncan Roy said there were no injuries and the vessel remained watertight.
Mr Roy blamed a "steering failure" for the accident, with navigation websites showing the Aratere turned gradually into rocky land rather than heading straight into the Marlborough Sounds, bound for Wellington.
"It was a freight-only sailing with eight commercial vehicle drivers and 39 crew on board," he said.
"The Picton Harbour Master is on board and we are working with him to move the vessel back to Picton."
The 47 crew and drivers spent the night on board the vessel, which has power and supplies.
Transport Minister Simeon Brown said there was "no indication of injuries, danger to life or danger of oil pollution to the marine environment".
A refloating operation commenced on Saturday morning, though doubts were expressed to whether it could occur around high tide scheduled for 9.30am.
We have been advised that there is no indication of injuries, danger to life or danger of oil pollution to the marine environment. The vessel is watertight.— Simeon Brown (@SimeonBrownMP) Both KiwiRail and Maritime NZ are actively dealing with the situation. KiwiRail will provide further updates publicly.June 21, 2024
The debacle is the latest in a string of problems for the Interislanders, once a much-loved Kiwi instutition but now synonymous with blunders.
The Aratere is a $NZ106 million ($A98 million) Spanish-built ship dubbed "El Lemon" due to its many issues.
Both the Aratere and sister ship Kaitaiki lost power on sailings last year.
In a dangerous January 2023 incident, Kaitaki crew handed out life jackets to hundreds of passengers as it drifted towards the south coast of North Island in high winds before power was restored.
In November last year, another Interislander - the Kaiarahi - was out of action for some time after striking a Wellington wharf, leaving it with a hole in the hull.
The previous government hoped to replace the fleet with rail-enabled new ferries and wharves, but the coalition government axed the project on coming to office citing major cost blowouts.
This week, Mr Brown told a parliamentary select committee the government had been "highly unimpressed" with Kiwirail's maintenance efforts of the ships.
The route is a key link between New Zealand's two biggest islands, with several sailings each day between Wellington and Picton.
Operators Kiwirail run almost 4000 services a year, carrying more than 800,000 passengers, 250,000 cars and over $NZ15 billion ($A14 billion) worth of freight.
The route is also serviced by private operators Bluebridge.
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