Over the limit captain fined in court

Pramod Kumar

A ship captain in charge of a 37,000-tonne fertiliser carrier who admitted being almost five times over the alcohol limit has been sacked by his employer.

Pramod Kumar was in charge of African Harrier, which was set to leave the Port of Tauranga on Sunday.

However, the ship's pilot noticed Kumar was showing signs of drunkeness and immediately suspended the departure of the ship and contacted Maritime New Zealand who in turned contacted the police.

MUR (Shipping) confirmed the master of the MV African Harrier was relieved of his command at the Port of Tauranga due to a breach of the Standards of Training Certification and Watchkeeping Regulation, and the company's own drug and alcohol abuse Policy.

Mr Kumar was fined $3000 in the Tauranga District Court.

MUR's chief executive officer Robert Muirhead said he was shocked and disappointed by this serious breach of the regulations and has ordered a full inquiry.

"We will ask independent auditors to assist us and ensure the investigation is as comprehensive as possible. An incident like this has never happened before in our 20-year history and we will endeavour to ensure it can never happen again."

Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns said he did not want to contemplate what could have happened if Mr Kumar had captained the African Harrier out of the Port of Tauranga. However, he was proud of the actions of the pilot who first alerted Maritime New Zealand.

The pilot's actions showed how serious the port was about safety, he said.

Mr Cairns said over the last few years the port had been looking at introducing random alcohol and drug testings on port staff on top of pre-employment testing already in place with all management staff having had training on how to identify people under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

It was the first alcohol-related offence at the port in the 10 years he had been there, he said.

Maritime New Zealand Director Keith Manch said the legislation did not allow random alcohol and drug testing.

However, many companies would have their own drug and alcohol policies which would manage these sorts of issues internally.

"New Zealand-employed pilots are on board all big ships during arrivals and departures in our ports. This means we have "eyes on the bridge" of each ship that visits a New Zealand port. We have no evidence to suggest alcohol use is a widespread problem."

Mr Manch said testing would be undertaken when there was reasonable suspicion of a breach of the law but the Ministry of Transport was exploring the need for a new regime to manage alcohol and drug related impairment in aviation, maritime and rail.

Mr Manch said in 2010, Maritime New Zealand used its Port State Control powers to detain the vessel Tasman Pathfinder in Wellington, after the pilot reported the master was under the influence of alcohol. The ship was also kept in port until a replacement master was flown out by the company.

A replacement master has been appointed to the African Harrier and the vessel has now sailed for Marsden Point.