A maritime lawyer’s warning that Wellington’s lack of an open water salvage tug was a “ticking time bomb” reached authorities months before the Kaitaki’s mayday call on Saturday.
“Regrettably, it is not a matter of if, but when, we have a similar situation [of a ship losing power] at the Port of Wellington,” Izard Weston lawyer John Burton wrote to the Traffic Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) on August 9. The letter reached Transport Minister Michael Wood’s office by October.
“There will be no tug available to assist.”
Burton’s letter proved prescient: Interislander ferry Kaitaki lost power to all four engines on Saturday while crossing Cook Strait and strong southerly winds pushed it, with 864 people on board, towards the rugged coastline west of Wellington until anchors held it and engineers restored power.
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The letter has come to light amid a December Official Information Act request to the Ministry of Transport for reports, briefings, and advice to Wood.
An unnamed spokesperson from Wood’s office on Wednesday said KiwiRail had told him Saturday’s emergency response was “an appropriate and feasible response to the situation”.
The spokesperson confirmed he met with Maritime NZ on Tuesday and was meeting with KiwiRail on Wednesday to discuss their investigations.
Supplied
Sections of maritime lawyer John Burton’s letter to the Traffic Accident Investigation Commission in August, 2022.
Wellington’s two harbour tugs made their way to assist when the Kaitaki called for help just after 5pm on Saturday.
However, it emerged that tugs with specific open water towing capability, bought as a result of the 1968 Wahine tragedy, had been replaced by more-powerful tugs – ones designed for in-harbour work and less-suited to attaching to stricken ships in open water.
The revelation in Burton’s letter comes after Wellington Harbourmaster Grant Nalder this week expressed doubt about Wellington’s tugs’ ability to haul a large stricken ship in Cook Strait, and confirmation he has long called for the Greater Wellington Regional Council to help Wellington get an open water capable tug.
Marinetraffic.com
Maritimetraffic.com’s ship tracking data shows how close the Kaitaki drifted towards the south coast.
Regional Council environmental management general manager Al Cross also confirmed this week that the council and others had asked government agencies for such an open water vessel.
For Burton, the current situation was a regression to before the 1968 Wahine disaster. Fifty-one people died on the day of the Wahine tragedy, in which the ferry hit rocks near the Wellington harbour entrance. Two others died later.
“I can state with confidence that there is no tug in Wellington today with salvage capability,” Burton warned TAIC chief commissioner Jane Meares.
Brianna Cotter
A tug boat alongside the Kaitaki on Saturday evening.
Blackouts and engine failures were “reasonably regular”, Burton said.
This included cruise ship Ovation of the Seas which lost propulsion in calm conditions leaving Wellington in 2019.
Burton urged TAIC to raise awareness of the issue and co-ordinate funding for a tug with salvage ability between CentrePort and “appropriate central and local government agencies”.
BRUCE MACKAY/Stuff
Interislander ferry Kaitaki at port this week after the incident.
“[They] are currently engaged in a very dangerous game of ‘pass the parcel’ and with a parcel that contains a ticking time bomb,” he wrote.
He pointed out that Wellington had New Zealand’s busiest shipping harbour.
Meares responded and acknowledged it was not the first time Burton had raised the concerns but said TAIC didn’t have the power to investigate or make recommendations without an incident of concern.
She asked Burton to raise concerns with Te Manatū Waka Ministry of Transport, Maritime NZ, CentrePort, and the Transport Minister.
All were approached for comment on Tuesday.
CentrePort spokesperson Dominic Taffs said nobody had engaged with CentrePort about the letter, “but we welcome a conversation between the relevant agencies about tug capacity in New Zealand”.
An unnamed Ministry of Transport spokesperson replied, by reissuing a statement from Monday pointing to impracticalities of having a salvage tug covering New Zealand’s entire coastline.
Greater Wellington Regional Council also referred to a day-old statement.
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