A final report into causes and circumstances of the 2011 grounding of the MV Rena containership on New Zealand’s Astrolabe Reef has found that it was the failure of the master and crew to follow proper voyage planning, navigation and watchkeeping practices and the ship manager’sinsufficient oversight of vessel’s safety management system that led to the grounding and subsequently the worst maritime disaster in the history of the country.
New Zealand’s Transport Accident Investigation Commission on Thursday published its long-awaited final report into the October 2011 incident, in which the MV Rena ran aground in the Bay of Plenty during a voyage from Napier to port of Tauranga. The ship hit the Astrolabe Reef at near full speed during the early morning hours of October 5, where it remained stuck and slowly broke up over the ensuing months. About 200 tonnes of heavy fuel oil were spilled in the accident, as well as a substantial amount of cargo containers were lost overboard.
According to the final report, the second mate decided to deviate from the planned course- under the master’s authorization to watchkeepers to avoid known unfavorable currents and shorten the distance to the destination – in order to make an October 5, 0300 meeting with a pilot boat from Tauranga, a deadline that was dictated by the port’s tidal currents. The course adjustment included reducing the ship’s planned passage from two nautical miles north of Astrolabe Reef to just one mile in order to save time. The report found that the second mate, in order to make the shortcut, “made a series of small course adjustments towards Astrolabe Reef” and, in doing so, he altered the course 5 degrees past the 260-degree required track. The report said that adjusted course, however, did not make an allowance for any compass error or sideways “drift”, and as a result the Rena was headed straight for Astrolabe Reef.
At approximately 0152, just prior to the grounding, the master returned to the bridge and discussed preparations for arrival at the pilot station with the second mate. It was then that the master assumed control of the ship, “having received virtually no information on where the ship was, where it was heading, and what immediate dangers to navigation he needed to consider”, the report said, adding that “during this period of handover no-one was monitoring the position of the ship.”
The MV Rena struck the Astrolabe Reef at 0214 while traveling at a speed of 17 knots.
The Transport Accident Investigation Commission report concluded that the Rena grounding was not in any way attributable to the malfunction of any on-board machinery or equipment, including on-board navigational equipment, but rather the grounding was solely the result of human error, confirming what we had suspected already and what was expressed in an interim report released by the Commission in March 2012.
Findings, Recommendations and Key Lessons:
Factors that directly contributed to the grounding included the crew:
- not following standard good practice for planning and executing the voyage
- not following standard good practice for navigation watchkeeping
- not following standard good practice when taking over control of the ship.