Urgent advice sought for salvage tug after Kaitaki and Shiling close calls

Tuesday, 6 June 2023

The 66,000-tonne Shiling was towed back to Wellington after its latest failure, but the tow vessel – Skandi Emerald – was only in New Zealand by chance.

The Government has ordered “urgent advice” on Wellington getting an open water rescue tug, or other open water rescue capability, after two close calls with ships around the capital.

Associate Transport Minister Kiri Allan on Monday said she met with Greater Wellington Regional Council chairperson Daran Ponter and Marlborough mayor Nadine Taylor about their concerns with the lack of offshore emergency response capability.

It comes after Interislander ferry Kaitaki, with 864 people on board, lost all power in late January and drifted a nautical mile towards rocks before anchors held.

The rubber expansion joint which ruptured in the cooling system of the Kaitaki in January, causing the power loss.

Then, in April, 66,000 tonne container ship the Shiling lost power near the Wellington harbour heads and drifted narrowly over a shallow harbour sandbar. When it finally left Wellington it failed off Farewell Spit and was rescued by a ship with open water towing capability – but one that just happened to be in New Zealand at the time.

Multiple people, before and after the Kaitaki incident, have raised the alarm bells about Wellington – New Zealand’s busiest port for ship movements due to the Cook Strait ferries – not having a tug that can carry out open water rescues.

Allan on Monday said the Government shared those concerns. She and Transport Minister Michael Wood had requested “urgent advice on the potential options on emergency towage capability”. Maritime NZ (MNZ) is carrying out the work.

“In light of the recent incidents I have asked that this advice be expedited and I expect to receive preliminary advice from MNZ in July.”

Ponter, a vocal supporter of Wellington having an open water salvage tug, said options could range from sea anchors able to be deployed to stricken ships through to a specialised ocean salvage tug able to haul ships to safety.

An inquiry after the 1968 Wahine disaster, where 53 people died after the Lyttelton to Wellington ferry capsized, found Wellington needed tug boats with the ability to haul stricken ships to safety.

Soon after, Wellington got those but they were replaced between 2009 and 2014 with more-powerful tugs without the design or equipment to haul a large ship properly to safety in open water.

When Kaitaki lost power in January, Wellington’s two harbour tugs rushed to assist, but it later emerged they would have been unlikely to be able to attach to the ship and haul it to safety.

Former Wellington chief pilot Charles Smith confirmed he had been raising concerns about the lack of open water salvage ability since about 2004.

In 2018, the Greater Wellington Regional Council commissioned a report on harbour risk. It pointed out that Wellington “does not possess offshore towage capability any longer” and the ability to tow an immobilised vessel in Cook Strait “would not be possible in all but the calmest Cook Strait conditions”.

Harbourmaster Grant Nalder in 2019 reported to a regional council committee that a fully-crewed salvage tug “cannot be justified in terms of cost”, but altering an existing tug was “more cost-effective and pragmatic”.

And in August, Wellington Maritime lawyer John Burton wrote to the Transport Accident Investigation Commission warning that a lack of a salvage tug was a “ticking time bomb”.