MO-2000-211

At about 0400 on 19 November 2000, the Auckland Harbour tug "Waka Kume", with 2 crew aboard, was made fast to the port quarter of a ship berthing at the Fergusson Container Terminal. As the ship was moving astern towards the berth the pilot decided to abort the approach due to the bow thruster on the ship not being able to hold the bow up into the wind and tide. When the pilot put the ship’s engine ahead, and the tug skipper attempted to adjust the movement of the tug to follow, the tug suffered a loss of control causing it to rapidly rotate to starboard through about 360 degrees, wrapping the towline around the superstructure. When the tug skipper had regained control of the tug the towline was let go and the ship was berthed without further incident. There were no injuries to the crew, but the tug suffered extensive damage to the superstructure, starboard funnel and some deck fittings.

Safety issues identified included:

• the number of minor faults discovered in the control system for the tug’s port azimuth unit
• the adequacy of emergency training given to the tug crews
• the continuity of the training given to the tug crews
• the need for ongoing peer reviews for tug crews.

Safety recommendations were made to Ports of Auckland Limited to address the safety issues.