Charges filed against New Zealand ferry operator over 2024 grounding
Maritime New Zealand has filed two charges against local transport company KiwiRail after completing an investigation into the grounding of the Ro-Pax ferry Aratere last year.
The ferry ran aground just north of Picton on June 21 last year. It had 47 people on board at the time.
All passengers and crew were safely returned to shore and the ferry was refloated the following evening (local time).
Maritime NZ’s Chief Executive Kirstie Hewlett said the two charges filed against KiwiRail under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 relate to failures by the operator to keep the crew and the passengers safe while on board the ferry.
“This was a complex incident and important investigation given it focused on KiwiRail bringing in new systems to older vessels and broader safety management," said Hewlett.
"It required us to look at systems, policies and procedures, culture, within KiwiRail in relation to the incident. A significant number of interviews were conducted, as well as collating and reviewing a substantial amount of relevant documentation and evidence."
Hewlett remarked that the time taken to undertake the investigation, collate and review the evidence, and decide on compliance action is, "consistent with other complex and major incidents."
She concluded that details of the investigation cannot be disclosed as Maritime NZ has already filed the charges in court.
A preliminary investigation by the country's Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) revealed that Aratere had a new steering control system installed in four of the five command consoles on the bridge in the months prior to the incident.
TAIC said, however, that the system was not installed on the autopilot console, which was part of the original track pilot integrated bridge navigation system by a different manufacturer.
As a result, the ferry had remained under autopilot control in the last few minutes leading to the grounding. Although the crew were able to regain manual steering control, it was too late to prevent the vessel from running aground.
