Poor maritime navigation skills prompts TAIC to add issue to watchlist

Thursday, 11 October 2018

TAIC broadens watchlist

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) says four recent errors in shipping navigation have prompted them to add the issue to its watchlist.

They include the passenger vessel, L'Austral, grounding at Milford Sound in February 2017, the same vessel making contact with rocks on Snares Islands a month earlier, and the passenger ship, Azamara Quest, making contact with Wheki Rock in Tory Channel in January.

While none of the errors in piloted waters resulted in loss of life, serious injury or damage, all could have had 'severe consequences' said TAIC chief commissioner Jane Meares.

Cruise ship L'Austral was damaged after it ran into a stony bank in Milford Sound. (File photo)

'Errors in navigation in pilotage waters carry the risk of serious consequences for people, the environment, and the economy.'

**READ MORE:

Chief Commissioner Jane Meares of the Transport Accident Investigation Commission. (File photo).

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The Commission created a new watchlist item to focus the attention of regulators, operators, and training providers on solving the problem, she said.

Pilotage waters are largely areas where a ship must use the services of a maritime pilot, who is an experienced and skilled sailor with detailed knowledge of a particular waterway.

'The common thread in these incidents is poor application of an international standard for safe navigation of a ship,' Meares said.

'The phenomenon of the team on a ship's bridge not applying an international standard is a safety issue of serious concern; it demands immediate attention.'

Meares said if one of the cruise ships had sunk there could have been significant loss of life.

Further consequences included risk to the environment of oil spills, and negative impacts on the economy, she said.

'The cruise ship sector is becoming more important as an aspect of New Zealand tourism, and it could potentially be affected.'

TAIC manager of surface investigations Martin Harper said the pilot and the bridge team needed to be fully aware at all times.

As technology had improved there was a real need for people to be trained well to use the equipment, he said.

'Bridge resource management is so important. It's the language, it's the communication, it's having the same plan, it's situational awareness and the cultural issues … most importantly it's the communication between pilots and the bridge team and making sure those two groups combine as one and work as a unit.'

Maritime NZ Deputy Director Engagement, Communication and Coordination Sharyn Forsyth said the concern that TAIC had raised was an international issue that centred on both pilots and the bridge crew of visiting ships.

'They usually have little time to establish a rapport so they can work together well and safely navigate the ship. It is important this is not seen as a matter for pilots alone. It is about training and standards for bridge crews and pilots so they can work together.'

There was already work underway to address this, one world-wide in relation to bridge crews, and the other in New Zealand involving pilots, she said.

'Maritime NZ, the Marine Pilots Association of NZ and marine managers who employ pilots have been working together to help keep pilots on top of their game.'

Work included continuing professional education for pilots, sharing regional, national and international information, and regular engagement meetings of senior staff, she said.

'Maritime NZ is also looking at how to ensure masters of foreign ships visiting New Zealand have the information they need about New Zealand's expectation of them before they arrive in our waters.'

WHAT IS THE WATCHLIST?

TAIC says the Watchlist draws attention to transport-related concerns of high social, economic or environmental risk; and systemic transport safety risks.

The current Watchlist includes mast bumping accidents on a particular type of helicopter, rail level crossing safety, and improving technologies to track and locate people after accidents.