WESTLAND Mineral Sands’ release of its own report into the grounding of the coastal bulk barge Manahau before official investigations have been completed is a pre-emptive public relations exercise, the Maritime Union of New Zealand believes.
DCN yesterday (18 November) reported that Tim Burfoot, a master mariner with 46 years’ experience in maritime operations and a former chief investigator for the Transport Accident Investigation Commission, found the incident was avoidable: “Better decision-making by the crew at several key points during the incident could have prevented the vessel from running aground,” Mr Burfoot concluded, according to the WMS Group.
But MUNZ spokesman Victor Billot told NZ media the release of Mr Burfoot’s findings before either the TAIC or Maritime New Zealand had finished their work was “a PR exercise. The crew have just been thrown under the bus and sent back to Indonesia and Myanmar so they aren’t here to defend themselves.”
Mr Billot also challenged WMS’ “bold claims” that Manahau remains fit-for-purpose, shipping bulk mineral sands from shallow west coast South Island ports to Port Nelson for transhipment, noting that experienced Kiwi seafarers had refused to work on the powered barge which they considered unsuitable for the tricky conditions and notoriously bad west coast weather.
“The crew were put in a very dangerous situation. There could easily have been multiple fatalities and it was just luck it didn’t go completely sideways,” Mr Billot said.
On social media professional mariners have adjudged Manahau under-powered and while adequate for its previous life in Asian river traffic, its propulsion was unsuited for open-ocean work, especially in combination with the barge’s flat-bottom design.
WMS MD Ray Mudgeway said the company had full confidence in the Manahau’s capability to provide a coastal shipping service along the West Coast. It remains in Port Nelson undergoing repairs, replacement propulsion units, and classification society approvals.
