Executive summary
At about 0914 on Wednesday, 31 May 2000, the passenger ferries "Quickcat" and "Quickcat II" were operating on the ferry service between Waiheke Island and Auckland when they collided about 0.5 miles east of the northern leading light in Auckland Harbour. The visibility in the area at the time of the collision was about 50 m due to fog. There was a total of 127 passengers and 7 crew aboard the 2 vessels, none of whom were injured.
Safety issues identified included:
• the speed of the 2 vessels in restricted visibility
• the inefficient use of radar for collision avoidance
• non-compliance with the collision regulations
• the adequacy of the documented passage plan
• the absence of high-speed navigation techniques
• the number of scheduled ferry services within Auckland enclosed limits and the need for a system to manage vessel traffic.
Safety recommendations were made to the operator and the Auckland Regional Council harbourmaster to address the safety issues.
Related Recommendations
Continue the training of deckhands employed by his company to a level where they can competently assist or relieve the master as necessary.
Revise the Fog and Poor Visibility section of the Quality Procedures Manual to clearly identify the responsibilities of the skippers under the collision regulations with particular regard to safe speed.
Develop a comprehensive passage plan for each of the company routes that utilises all available resources aboard company vessels, and make it company policy for all vessels to follow the plans as closely as practicable in all conditions of visibility.
Arrange for skippers employed by the company attend a high speed navigation course.
Require all ferry operators offering scheduled ferry services within Auckland enclosed water limits to submit for approval to the council a detailed route operational plan for all scheduled ferry routes, then coordinate between operators to ensure that such passage plans as far as practical avoid ferries meeting on opposing tracks. The approved route operational plans should be required to form part of operators' safe ship management system.
Establish the main ferry routes within Auckland enclosed water limits and arrange to have them marked on the appropriate charts with an appropriate warning for other harbour users that ferries regularly ply those routes.