Defence Minister Judith Collins and Chief of Navy Rear-Admiral Garin Golding addressed media on Friday as the interim Court of Inquiry’s report was released.
The HMNZS Manawanui, a specialist survey and dive support vessel, struck a reef on the evening of Saturday, October 5. It began to list and Commander Yvonne Gray gave the order to abandon ship.
A fire broke out in the engine room and the $100 million vessel sank that Sunday morning, off the south coast of the Samoan island of Upolu.
HMNZS Manawanui foundered off the coast of Upolu, Samoa, on October 5. Photo / Supplied
Report blames ‘human error’ for sinking
Human error was the root cause of the vessel’s sinking, the report shows.
Golding said the direct cause of the grounding was because of a series of human errors, resulting in the ship’s autopilot “not being disengaged when it should have been”.
Chief of Navy Rear-Admiral Garin Golding and Defence Minister Judith Collins address media about the findings from the inquiry into the HMNZS Manawanui sinking in Samoa. Photo / Alex Burton
He said the crew did not realise Manawanui remained in autopilot and, mistakenly believed its failure to respond to direction changes was the result of a thruster control failure.
“Having mistakenly assessed a thruster control failure, standard procedures should have prompted the ship’s crew to check that the ship was under manual control rather than in autopilot. This check did not occur. Remaining in autopilot resulted in the ship maintaining a course toward land, until grounding and eventually stranding.”
Golding said the incident had “obviously” had an impact on New Zealand’s reputation, and the Navy needed to “own” their mistake.
Why it happened and what would come next in terms of lessons learned were still being worked on as part of the wider Court of Inquiry, which was expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year.
He said the investigation panel was looking at three people for responsibility for the incident: the pilot, the officer overseeing the pilot, and the officer overseeing the ship.
As human error was identified as the cause, a separate disciplinary process would need to be commenced once the Court of Inquiry had concluded, he said.
‘Terribly disappointed’ - Collins
Collins said “we were all terribly disappointed in what happened”.
She said the Navy had since acted in a professional manner, and New Zealanders could have full confidence that the Navy and Defence Force were not shying away from the incident and had stepped up to the mark in taking the incident seriously.
She said we have been fortunate, to date, to have not had any major oil slips, and teams had been keeping the Samoan Government informed.
“I think there’s a lot of trust, as there should be, between the New Zealand Government and Samoa... They can have full confidence that we’re doing everything we can.”
She said she had seen a video of diesel, not oil, leaking from the ship, and it was a “big thing” from her point of view to get the diesel out as quickly as possible.
Golding said salvage operations would commence December 16, if all went to plan.
He said risk assessment procedures were being “actively looked at” following the disaster.
Collins said the main thing was now getting on and sorting out the lessons from the incident, and not allowing it to happen again.
“This has really knocked the Navy for six... But I don’t think anyone can fault the Navy for standing up and saying this is what happened.
“We’ve had this sort of thing happen in the civilian world with ferries... I think what it says is that we’re not a country that is going to shy away from the truth.”
Timeline of HMNZS Manawanui’s sinking:
On Saturday, October 5, 2024, HMNZS Manawanui was conducting survey operations on the southern side of Apia, Samoa, in a strong breeze of up to 25 knots and moderate swell.
The survey was conducted in a box-shaped area, running east to west in survey lanes that start on the outside, working inwards.
At about 6.15pm, the ship’s crew attempted a routine turn to starboard, initially to a course of 340 degrees, within the survey area, as part of a turn. The crew attempted to turn off the 340-degree course to starboard towards an easterly course but the ship did not respond as intended.
Shortly after, Manawanui left the approved survey area and, in an effort to stop the ship, the crew conducted further actions they believed should have resulted in the ship essentially braking.
Manawanui did not slow or stop, and instead it started to accelerate towards the reef, grounding for the first time at or about 6.17pm at a speed of more than 10 knots.
The ship then travelled around 635 metres before becoming stranded, grounding multiple times along the way.
Full control of Manawanui’s propulsion system was not regained until 10 minutes later, at 6.27pm, when the ship’s autopilot was disengaged. The inability to turn the ship to an easterly direction from the 340-degree course and stop it is attributed to it being in autopilot mode.
Unsuccessful attempts were then made to manoeuvre the ship off the reef.
Manawanui was brought to emergency stations after the grounding, and searches were conducted to check for damage.
No damage or flooding was detected inside the ship. However, stability assessments made after the grounding indicated Manawanui was no longer stable.
At approximately 6.46pm, about 30 minutes after the initial grounding, the decision was made to abandon ship.
The timeliness of the decision to abandon ship and to keep Manawanui’s generators running contributed to the successful abandonment process and likely prevented serious injuries or death.
The ship suffered a series of catastrophic fires after being abandoned, before capsizing and sinking on the morning of Sunday, October 6.
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