MO-2001-205

Coastal cargo ship "Spirit of Enterprise", grounding, Port Otago, 15 March 2001
Status
Closed
Occurrence Date
Report Publication Date
Jurisdiction
NZ
Legacy Inquiry Number
01-205
On Thursday 15 March 2001, at about 0517, the coastal container ship "Spirit of Enterprise" was outbound from Dunedin in Otago Harbour with 11 crew on board under the control of its pilot exempt master, when it sheered violently to port turning through 180 degrees in the channel at Deborah Bend. The master took the ship back to the swinging basin off Port Chalmers where tests of the steering machinery were carried out. Finding no faults, the master resumed the outward passage but again the vessel sheered at Deborah Bend, this time touching the channel side.

Two consecutive channel light beacons had failed at Deborah Bend, which caused the master to make the turn into the bend prematurely and resulted in him losing situational awareness and the ship leaving the channel.

Safety issues identified included:

• the standard of bridge resource management aboard the "Spirit of Enterprise"
• fatigue-related performance impairment
• the monitoring of the operation of channel marking beacons in Otago Harbour
• the adequacy of legislation governing pilotage and pilotage exemption schemes operating in Otago Harbour and generally in New Zealand.

Safety recommendations were made to the chief executive of Pacifica Shipping (1985) Limited, the chief executive of Port Otago Limited, the chief executive of Otago Regional Council and the Director of Maritime Safety to address the safety issues.
Location
Port Otago (-45.805051,170.638533) [may be approximate]