Skipper censured over cruise ship grounding

The Queenstown Princess was cruising on Lake Wakatipu. Picture / Dean Purcell

The grounding of the passenger vessel Queenstown Princess during a cruise on Lake Wakatipu was due to the skipper failing to keep a proper lookout, the Maritime Safety Authority (MSA) says in an investigation report released today.

Director of Maritime Safety Russell Kilvington said the February 13 accident held valuable lessons for skippers, owners and operators.

"It's the skipper's responsibility to ensure the safety of everyone on board, and that includes keeping a proper lookout, knowing your vessel's position, course and speed, and holding the correct qualifications for what you're doing," he said.

"In this case, the skipper failed on all these counts. At the time of the grounding he was giving passengers a demonstration of the operation of the radar and echo sounder."

Mr Kilvington said the MSA had severely censured the skipper and warned him that if his conduct was questioned in future, the MSA would consider a prosecution, or take action against his maritime document.

MSA has also severely censured the owners and operators of Queenstown Princess for failing to ensure the skipper was properly qualified and for not having established procedures to ensure the vessel was maintained according to maritime rules and regulations.

Three of the 17 passengers on board were injured in the accident, one with a fractured rib after falling against the barbecue, another suffered whiplash to the neck, and a third was slightly injured after being thrown forward.

The bow of one of the vessel's catamaran hulls was damaged on grounding.

- NZPA