A REPORT compiled for the owners of the NZ coastal bulk barge Manahau has blamed its 31 August grounding on the South Island west coast on poor decision-making by the Indonesian crew.
Westland Mineral Sands’ internal investigation was led by Tim Burfoot, a master mariner with 46 years’ experience in maritime operations and a former chief investigator for the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC).
Mr. Burfoot concluded that while weather and sea conditions had been forecasted accurately and sufficient information was available to make informed navigational decisions, the grounding was ultimately avoidable. His findings indicate that better decision-making by the crew at several key points during the incident could have prevented the vessel from running aground, WMS said.
The flat-bottomed vessel, acquired by WMS from Filipino owners and converted for NZ service in Batam, arrived at Nelson 22 July (DCN 23 July) to undergo final licensing and preparation for work shipping mineral sands for WMS subsidiary from West Coast Bulk Logistics from shallow-draught ports Greymouth and Westport to bulkers anchored in Buller Bay.
It had completed one delivery and was said to have been to have been sailing off the coast for up to a week awaiting conditions to moderate, before it grounded at Carters Beach around midnight on 31 August with 11 people on board. It was subsequently refloated 6 September and towed to Nelson for repairs.
Manahau was driven aground at Carters Beach
On Friday (14 November) WMS said Manahau was intended to provide an efficient and sustainable way to transport critical minerals from river ports on the West Coast for distribution to global markets, and Mr. Burfoot had confirmed the vessel was fit for this purpose, equipped with the necessary capabilities and properly supported by the company’s shore-based management team.
Mike Stewart, GM of WMS subsidiary West Coast Bulk Logistics confirmed that most of the Indonesian/ Burmese crew had now returned home, and Manahau remains docked at Port Nelson: “The repair plan has been submitted to RINA, the international certification body, and the necessary work will take approximately one month once the vessel is in dry dock. Replacement propeller drives will take several months to procure.”
WMS Group MD Ray Mudgway said that there were important lessons to be learned from the grounding.
“Westland Mineral Sands takes pride in our world-class operational standards and the insights from the grounding will be integrated into our operations to strengthen future decision-making.
“We have full confidence in the Manahau’s capability to provide a sustainable coastal shipping service along the West Coast and we remain committed to the restoration of West Coast ports, which we believe is crucial to unlocking regional resources and enabling the movement of both outgoing and incoming cargo.
“We are deeply disappointed that this preventable event has delayed our plans to export directly from the Coast to global markets and we look forward to getting Manahau back into service so it can change the way we move bulk commodities around New Zealand,” Mr Mudgway said.
As other investigations are ongoing, WMS will not be commenting further at this time.
