Damning report into Rena grounding
Thursday, 18 December 2014
The Rena bridge crew failed to stick to navigation and watchkeeping standards for at least six voyages leading to the container ship's grounding off the Tauranga coast in 2011.
The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) released their final report at the Tauranga Yacht and Boat Club to 100 stakeholders where they recommended owners Daina Shipping and managers Ciel Shipmanagement SA evaluate their safety management system to prevent another wreck.
Chief commissioner John Marshall, QC, presented the findings along with chief investigator Captain Tim Burfoot and Rena investigator Rob Thompson.
The 224-metre container ship struck the isolated Astrolabe reef on October 5, 2011 off the coast of Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty at 2.14am at near full speed.
The report found the captain and bridge crew of the Rena made a series of errors that caused its grounding on Astrolabe Reef but it came after insufficient oversight from the ship's owners.
READ MORE: Timeline of final hours
But owners Ciel Shipmanagement responded to the report saying they did not agree with its findings.
In a written statement, New Zealand-based spokesman for the Rena owners Hugo Shanahan said the recommendation to evaluate the Rena's safety management system had already been dealt with by Ciel.
'It has been a productive exercise and they have already been invited to and did provide input to the Commission on areas where they do not agree with the Commission's approach,' said Shanahan.
The ship left Napier on October 4 and planned to arrive in Tauranga at 3am the following day but underestimated the strong currents and were in a race to beat the low tide.
TAIC found the Rena's passage plan from Napier to Tauranga was flawed and did not meet the owners standards, international guidelines or industry best practice.
To make matter worse, the second mate deviated from the passage plan to save time.
Thompson said the crew deviated from the plan 'in an ad hoc manner' on several occasions and it was not a one-off failure.
Rena captain Mauro Balomaga and navigation officer Leonil Relon were each jailed for seven months after they pleaded guilty to a number of charges, including operating a ship in a manner causing unnecessary danger or risk to persons or property.
Balomanga assumed control of the ship shortly before the grounding but received no information on its position or heading.
No-one was monitoring the position of the ship during the handover period the report found.
TAIC factors that directly contributed to the grounding were poor planning and execution of the voyage, poor navigation watchkeeping and a failure of the captain to take full control of the ship.
The report made three recommendations to improve safety but did not look into the response to the oil spill or salvage of the wreck.
TAIC made a recommendation to Maritime New Zealand promote a shared international training system for seafarers to meet a high industry standard.
Burfoot said there were a number of acts that contributed to the grounding but the crew's working environment had a major effect.
'You need to understand the environment this crew were working in,' said Burfoot. 'That goes to the wider standards of training they received, the ongoing experience they accumulated over the years and lastly, the environment onboard and the culture of the company.'
Maritime NZ chief executive Keith Manch said they had already accepted a second recommendation with a coastal navigation safety review which could see virtual navigation aids or beacons on reefs like Astrolabe.
Virtual aids would be cheaper than new lighthouses but required all ships to comply and posed a number of new risks.
'You've got to have the whole system able to cope with it so every ship has to have the technology on board,' said Manch. 'The other risk from a technology perspective is you move on from having human factors involved in incidents to having technology factors involved so people start relying on technology.'
RENA BY THE NUMBERS
800 People involved in the oil spill response team at its height, including 500 military personnel.
8000 Volunteers registered to help with the clean-up.
1000 Tonnes of oily sand recovered.
1733 Tonnes of heavy fuel oil on board Rena when it grounded.
350 Tonnes of oil estimated to have been lost overboard in the first week.
1300 Tonnes of oil recovered from Rena.
1368 Containers on original manifest.
987 Containers recovered.
400 Tonnes of scrap steel removed from the fore section.
407 Sea birds cared for at a treatment and rehabilitation centre at peak of the disaster.
365 Little blue penguins cleaned and released.
2062 Dead birds collected