On Friday 4 July, at 0632 the container ship "Bunga Teratai 4" and the fishing vessel "Mako" collided in Tasman Bay to the west of D'Urville Island. Neither vessel was damaged to the extent that its seaworthiness was compromised. Had the point of contact been at the bow of the ship instead of the stern, the fishing vessel would probably have been capsized and sunk with the likelihood of serious injury or death of its 4 crew.
Safety issues identified included:
· adequacy of the lookout by the crew of the fishing vessel
· insufficiently positive action to avoid a collision by the crew of the container ship
· the standard of bridge resource management and poor maintenance of a safe navigational watch on the container ship
· possible fatigue of the fishing vessel skipper.
Safety recommendations were made to the Chief Executive Officer of McDonald and Brown Limited and the Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia International Shipping Corporation to address these issues.
