Critical piece of drifting ferry’s engine was 18 years old

Friday, 30 August 2024

KiwiRail’s failures in maintaining pieces of equipment known as compensators that broke last year leading to the ferry Kaitaki drifting just offshore go back as far as 2007.

In a summary of facts released ahead of the sentencing of the company in September Maritime New Zealand outlined how maintenance was to be done and was not over years.

The Kaitaki lost power on January 28, 2023 while travelling from Picton to Wellington with 864 passengers and crew onboard.

All the main engines shut down and the ship was left with no propulsion about one nautical mile off Sinclair Head and began drifting toward the shore.

A mayday was sent and everyone on board was prepared for a full evacuation. Anchors were able to be dropped and a compensator was able to be replaced and two of the engines and two thrusters were able to be restarted.

It was about 7pm when the crew on board the Kaitaki managed to restart the engines and the mayday call was downgraded to “pan pan”. The ship – shadowed by tugs and the police launch – limped into Wellington Harbour.

KiwiRail has pleaded guilty to exposing passengers to harm or risk.

In April 2007, a firm was engaged to report on failure scenarios that could result in a loss of control. It noted the loss of cooling water could result in rapid overheating and shutdown of the engines with loss of control within 60 seconds.

“Kaitaki was known to suffer from higher-than-normal levels of vibration within machinery spaces which has a negative effect upon the reliability of various system components and is likely to be the cause of premature failure,” the report said.

A control measure was recommended to replace the compensators after two years of service, irrespective of their condition.

Only four months later the Kaitaki lost power while berthed in Wellington due to a failed compensator.

The Kaitaki was dry docked in August and September 2022. Multiple internal documents indicated the compensators were due, or should be, replaced but were not .

The compensator renewal record did not record any other compensators being replaced in 2022.

After issues in relation to the availability of electrical power on board the Kaitaki around one week before the incident, staff raised concerns about the lack of maintenance of the vessel in internal emails.

The outlet compensator which failed had been in service for five years and 8 months at the time of the incident.

The manufacturer's stamp indicates that the compensator was manufactured in 2005, making it almost 18 years old when it failed.

KiwiRail had identified the cooling water system as a critical system, the failure of which could result in a total loss of power and control of the Kaitaki.

Despite this, the internal work orders which scheduled the four-yearly renewal of the compensators listed them as 'non-critical' equipment.

According to KiwiRail's policies, the freshwater HT cooling system was to be periodically inspected every six months.

This procedure was last recorded as having been performed on 15 October 2022. The results were recorded as satisfactory.

In the summary, Maritime NZ says the relevant hazard was the wear and tear of the compensators on board the Kaitaki. This hazard arose from the failure by KiwiRail to adequately inspect and replace compensators.

“KiwiRail failed to ensure the health and safety of workers and passengers on the Kaitaki by not implementing systems and processes to ensure that adequate and effective maintenance of plant, in particular the compensators, was carried out.”

Since the incident, KiwiRail have implemented a more robust maintenance regime including 3% fewer crossings so that vessel maintenance can occur more frequently.