‘We realised we were floating into rocks’: Ferry victims speak

Monday, 9 September 2024

KiwiRail’s Interislander executive general manager Duncan Roy responds after the sentencing where the company was fined $432,500 over the drifting ferry Kaitaki.

As a powerless Interislander ferry drifted towards the rocks off Wellington’s south coast with hundreds of passengers on board, one of New Zealand’s worst maritime disasters was the terrifying thought in some minds.

KiwiRail has been fined $432,500 for failing to maintain equipment board Kaitaki, after it lost power on January 28, 2023 and drifted toward shore.

“We were in fear of our lives as we saw we were drifting toward the rocks. The Wahine was upper most in our minds,” a victim impact statement at Monday’s sentencing read.

That 1968 sinking in Wellington harbour, during a ferocious storm, would claim 53 lives.

Wellington District Court judge Peter Hobbs said the Kaitaki was 12 minutes from dangerous waters.

The Kaitaki lost power on January 28, 2023 while travelling from Picton to Wellington with about 850 passengers and crew onboard. (file photo)

“As darkness fell, we realised how much trouble we were in,” one passenger said.

“We realised potentially we were just floating into rocks.”

Others said they would never take the ferry again. A couple had been worried about their dog on a lower deck in their van.

“It was truly awful, seeing young babies there and the elderly people wondering if they were going to survive.”

KiwiRail was sentenced for exposing passengers and crew to harm after the Kaitaki lost power and drifted toward a rocky shoreline.

It had pleaded guilty to the charge which carries a maximum penalty of a fine of $1.5 million.

Interislander executive general manager Duncan Roy read a public apology in court saying this was not a situation anyone should have had to experience.

A rubber expansion joint which ruptured in the cooling system leading to the shut down of the Kaitaki’s engines and the ferry drifting close to shore.

“We have learned. Safety is our top priority and we have taken a series of steps to prevent a similar incident.”

In a summary of facts, Maritime New Zealand outlined how maintenance that had to be done was not, going back as far as 2007.

The Kaitaki lost power while travelling from Picton to Wellington with about 850 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.

Passengers were made to put on life jackets as Cook Strait ferry Kaitaki lost power and drifted.

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.

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

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

Interislander’s Kaitaki ferry had a rough start to 2023, with engineering faults putting it out of commission. (Video first published March 2023)

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 2022. Multiple internal documents indicated the compensators were due to be replaced but were not.

After issues in relation to the availability of electrical power on board the Kaitaki around one week before the incident, staff raised concerns.

The outlet compensator which failed had been in service for five years and 8 months at the time of the incident and was almost 18 years old.

Ship tracking data showing how close the Kaitaki drifted towards the south coast.

KiwiRail had identified the cooling water system as a critical system but 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 cooling system was to be periodically inspected every six months, which was last done in October 2022.

In the summary Maritime 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 has implemented a more robust maintenance regime including 3% fewer crossings so that vessel maintenance can occur more frequently

Maritime’s counsel, Ben Finn, said it was very fortunate no one was was hurt.

“Several have referred to the Wahine and not taking the ferry again. It speaks volumes,” he said.

Finn said KiwiRail had been before the court previously for similar charges.

“Their record is not good, they have a number of recent convictions under this act and this particular provision.”

KiwiRail’s lawyer, Mark Campbell, said while there was a risk of serious harm it did not eventuate as there was an emergency response in place.

KiwiRail said it had systems in place, Judge Hobbs said, but it was not implemented in the case of the compensators.

“All the systems in the world are of little use if not followed,’” he said.

In his view a risk of a compensatorfailing was well known to KiwiRail.