Recommendation Date
Recipient Name
MNZ
Text
The number of defects that are causing incidents and accidents in New Zealand pilotage waters is of concern. It is an indication that New Zealand port and harbour authorities cannot totally rely on the International Safety Management system to ensure that vessels transiting New Zealand ports are operated safely and efficiently. Minor technical defects and human performance issues are often lead indicators of deeper systemic safety issues on board a vessel. If the issues of mechanically unreliable vessels and substandard crew resource management on vessels operating into New Zealand ports are to be addressed, this will need to be done at a national level rather than individual ports dealing with the issues as they arise.
The Commission recommends that the Director of Maritime New Zealand consult port and harbour authorities and the New Zealand Maritime Pilots Association to develop a formal system for port and harbour authority employees to report vessel defects and crew performance issues. The purpose of the system should be to make information immediately available to maritime employees who can use the information to improve the safety of pilotage operations at subsequent ports. The purpose of the system should not be to replace the mandatory reporting of accidents and incidents, but instead to disseminate that information in a timely fashion to prevent similar accidents and incidents in the immediate future.
The Commission recommends that the Director of Maritime New Zealand consult port and harbour authorities and the New Zealand Maritime Pilots Association to develop a formal system for port and harbour authority employees to report vessel defects and crew performance issues. The purpose of the system should be to make information immediately available to maritime employees who can use the information to improve the safety of pilotage operations at subsequent ports. The purpose of the system should not be to replace the mandatory reporting of accidents and incidents, but instead to disseminate that information in a timely fashion to prevent similar accidents and incidents in the immediate future.
Reply Text
Maritime New Zealand has previously commented on the distribution of incident and accident notifications, and also on the monthly summaries, which are now posted on the Maritime New Zealand public website. TAIC was perhaps envisaging an arrangement whereby a pilot in one port who has a concern about a ship or becomes aware of an incident can immediately pass that information on to pilots and MNZ personnel at the next port of call so that appropriate action can be taken.
Martime New Zealand understands that this is what already happens routinely and considers there is no need to formalise it. Maritime New Zealand's previous comment on this recommendations is set out below, and is reiterated in light of the above recommendation:
MNZ has online report system in place - this facilitates the notification of information including vessel defects and crew performance issues. The recent shift to a regional structure and the development of an intelligence and planning team has resulted in a more timely response to any information received. Furthermore, notifications received by MNZ are forwarded to the appropriate harbourmaster for their information as well as a monthly summary of all notifications. It is intended that these monthly summaries will in future be posted on MNZ's website making them more readily availably to Pilots, [this is now the case] Harbourmasters, Port Companies and any oter interested parties. Information sharing may also be supplemented by other available resources such as APCIS and Lloyds.
Martime New Zealand understands that this is what already happens routinely and considers there is no need to formalise it. Maritime New Zealand's previous comment on this recommendations is set out below, and is reiterated in light of the above recommendation:
MNZ has online report system in place - this facilitates the notification of information including vessel defects and crew performance issues. The recent shift to a regional structure and the development of an intelligence and planning team has resulted in a more timely response to any information received. Furthermore, notifications received by MNZ are forwarded to the appropriate harbourmaster for their information as well as a monthly summary of all notifications. It is intended that these monthly summaries will in future be posted on MNZ's website making them more readily availably to Pilots, [this is now the case] Harbourmasters, Port Companies and any oter interested parties. Information sharing may also be supplemented by other available resources such as APCIS and Lloyds.
Related Investigation(s)