MO-2001-203

At about 0750 on 13 February 2001, the crew were performing a lifeboat launching drill shortly after the vessel "Nicolai Maersk" arrived in Auckland. While attempting to return the port lifeboat from the boat deck level to its stow position, the davit winch motor repeatedly tripped on overload. In order to stow the lifeboat, the davit arms were raised by manually closing the contactor located in the lifeboat winch starter box one deck below, to operate the winch motor. Manual closing of the contactor had the effect of bypassing the safety stop limit switches. The davit arms were pulled hard up to their stops and both wire falls parted. The lifeboat dropped to the boat deck and then rolled overboard, falling some 16 metres to the sea and landing upside down. Of the 7 crew inside the lifeboat, one was fatally injured, 2 were seriously injured and 4 received minor injuries.

Safety issues identified included:

• bypassing of critical safety features through the use of non-standard operating procedures
• the limited understanding the crew had of the lifeboat retrieval apparatus and its associated circuitry
• the fitness for purpose of the lifeboat retrieval apparatus and its approval by the various administrations involved
• the design oversight of a simple failsafe device on the lifeboat davit that could have prevented the lifeboat falling when the wire falls parted.

Safety recommendations were made to the operator, the manufacturer and the Director of the New Zealand Maritime Safety Authority to address the safety issues.