KiwiRail faces prosecution over Interislander incident

Thursday, 18 January 2024

KiwiRail is facing a charge brought by Maritime NZ over an Interislander ferry incident.

The charge, brought under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, relates to the Kaitaki vessel’s loss of power on January 28, 2023, when it was approaching Wellington Harbour.

The outage left the vessel without propulsion while carrying 864 people. Emergency protocol kicked in and the ship was anchored.

Fortunately anchors held while engineers restarted the engines – but not before the ship had been driven by strong wind more than a nautical mile towards the rocky coast and was just 0.9 nautical miles from the shore.

On Thursday, KiwiRail issued a statement about the prosecution brought against it.

“We assure all our passengers and staff that their safety is and will always be our highest priority,” the statement by chief executive Peter Reidy said.

“The safe and reliable operation of the Interislander service is an absolutely non-negotiable requirement for KiwiRail Board and management.

“Following the Kaitaki incident, we conducted a full review of all of our asset management practices, using global experts to ensure we are running the Interislander to world’s best practice standards.”

Maritime NZ said it would not make further comment as the matter was before the courts but first made a statement.

“The investigation took 12 months; it involved reviewing the operator’s organisational information relevant to processes and procedures connected to safety and maintenance management, undertaking interviews and examining the Kaitaki after the incident occurred,” Maritime NZ Director Kirstie Hewlett said.

“Material was then comprehensively reviewed before the decision was made to prosecute.”