Harbour ferries going too fast in fog, says crash report

Two passenger ferries were travelling too fast in fog when they collided on the Waitemata Harbour, an accident report has found.

The Quickcat and Quickcat II were travelling between Waiheke Island and Auckland when they collided about 9.14 am on May 31.

None of the vessel's 127 passengers and seven crew was injured. The vessels suffered moderate damage.

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission said yesterday that both vessels were travelling too fast for the 50m visibility in fog and would have had about 75 seconds to act when they detected each other on radar.

Collision regulations for fog and poor visibility were not followed and although both vessels were fitted with global positioning satellite equipment neither was using it to its "full potential" in conjunction with radar.

In addition, Fullers, which owns both ferries, had recommended courses in its quality procedures manual which neither ferry had adhered to.

Neither skipper was adequately monitoring vessel position, the report said.

The commission said Fullers should plan company routes carefully, insist that skippers stick to them, make sure that skippers knew it was up to them to avoid collisions and keep a close eye on speeds.

It recommended that the Auckland harbourmaster require all ferry operators to submit a detailed plan of scheduled ferry routes and mark main ferry routes on charts.

In a report on the sinking of the passenger charter launch Kiwi Cruiser in the Bay of Islands on April 5, the commission found that an inexperienced crew contributed to the boat's grounding on rocks.

Kiwi Cruiser was returning to Paihia from a fishing charter with nine passengers and three crew when it struck rocks off Tapeka Pt about 7.45 pm and began to sink.

A mayday was issued as the vessel began to list heavily and those on board put on lifejackets and abandoned ship for a liferaft.

They were picked up by a vessel responding to their mayday. The skipper and a trainee deckhand suffered minor injuries.

The vessel was operating on just one engine and while that did not contribute to the grounding, it invalidated the boat's safe ship management certificate, the report said.

Although the 24-year-old skipper was qualified, he had gained his commercial launch master's certificate just four months earlier and had limited sea experience. His knowledge of efficient use of radar was also limited.

- NZPA

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