MO-2004-214

Passenger freight ferry, "Aratere," loss of mode awareness leading to near grounding, Tory Channel, 29 September 2004
Status
Closed
Occurrence Date
Report Publication Date
Jurisdiction
NZ
Legacy Inquiry Number
04-214
On Wednesday 29 September 2004 at about 1720, the passenger freight ferry "Aratere" was entering Tory Channel from Cook Strait when it failed to make a programmed course alteration while in automatic steering. The navigational bridge team had to intervene and make a manual alteration of course to prevent the Aratere from grounding at full speed on the north side of the channel.
Safety issues identified included:
- the adequacy of bridge resource management
- the adequacy of training in the use of all integrated bridge systems
- the adequacy of contingency planning for safety critical situations on board
- the adequacy of procedures covering the receipt and dissemination of information from the International Maritime Organization.
Safety recommendations were made to General Manager Operations, The Interisland Line and the Director of Maritime Safety to address these issues
Location
Tory Channel (-41.207718,174.312859) [may be approximate]