The ferry ran aground on 21 June with 47 people aboard. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
- Marlborough Harbourmaster Jake Oliver has presented a report into the Aratere grounding in June
- He found it wasn't clear who was leading the emergency response
- Other experts said the report highlighted potential gaps in the response
- It includes 26 recommendations for external agencies and the council itself
There was confusion over who was leading the emergency response after an Interislander ferry ran aground, a report has revealed.
The Aratere ran aground near Picton on 21 June with 47 people aboard, prompting inquiries from the transport agency, Maritime New Zealand and the Transport Accident Investigation Commission.
Confusion over which agency was responsible for the incident and issues with communication were some of the findings from harbourmaster Jake Oliver's report to the Marlborough District Council.
The report included 26 recommendations - for external agencies and the council itself, its internal communications, processes and further training for staff members.
Oliver said he was notified of the incident about 15 minutes after it occurred, and a team had assembled in Picton within half an hour to determine what support was needed.
"The first response was led by police, they tasked Coastguard to get on the water and find out what was going on, so initially we understood police were the lead agency and my understanding was that this was due to a safety of life at sea concern, being the crew and passengers, truck drivers onboard."
At some stage, police stood down, but there was no defined handover to another lead agency - nor was it clear to whom the responsibility fell.
"Once it was established that everyone was safe, the incident was then essentially passed to us, although what we have identified is that handover wasn't the best it could have been and we are meeting with police, they have seen a copy of this report, to talk through how we can improve for next time."
Police said no one was available for an interview on the report on Friday.
The Aratere grounded off of Picton in June. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Oliver said the council then became the lead response agency over the risk of a marine oil spill. However, it later learned through media reports that Maritime NZ was the lead agency.
"That's what we're talking to Maritime NZ now about ... how we set up the communication lines better for the future, if or when there is another incident and how we determine the scalability of that response.
"Does it start initially with the harbourmaster or the regional council and then it's escalated to Maritime NZ and where are the trigger points."
However, Maritime New Zealand said it was never the lead agency during the June incident - it played a monitoring and oversight role in support of the re-floating of the Aratere, and provided technical support to the harbourmaster.
Deputy chief executive of response security and safety systems Graham MacLean said when emergency services were initially notified, a discussion was held between police and Maritime NZ's Rescue Coordination Centre around which was most suitable to manage the initial search and rescue element of the response.
Due to the location of the vessel and its master indicating there was no immediate risk to life, it was mutually agreed police were best placed to coordinate any search and rescue action, if required.
MacLean said the grounding of the Aratere was a serious incident and it was standard procedure for response agencies to debrief after such events.
Maritime NZ welcomed the Marlborough harbourmaster's recommendations that were focused on improving the incident response and would work with other agencies to make improvements that had been identified.
Wellington harbourmaster Grant Nalder said it showed the need for a clear process when responding to such incidents.
"It's highlighted potential gaps and there is already a working group being assembled before this report was published, organised by Maritime NZ and a lot of response agencies, to look at an all of Cook Strait response to a problem like this."
He said in the last few years, there had been more maritime incidents than he would have liked - but they happened, so agencies needed to be prepared.
"A lot of the work that is already in place is all about rescuing people from ships, which often involves them being in life rafts or life boats but what we haven't got in place is actually to look after the ship and keep people safe onboard."
The ferry was towed back to shore after a lengthy operation. Photo: Stuff/Maia Hart
Meanwhile, vice-president of the Merchant Service Guild Captain Iain MacLeod said there was no question about who was in charge of the vessel during the stranding.
"In these incidents the master is the ultimate responsible person on [the vessel] and the harbourmaster, Maritime NZ and all that were there to support him."
MacLeod said the shore-based response was something the union's members were not involved with.
"The master will call for assistance, in this case through Picton Harbour radio, if he wanted tugs or if he had to abandon the vessel it is a totally different situation, but in this case, the master was safe, the vessel was safe, the people on board were safe and then after that it was just a case of getting the vessel off safely without causing any damage."
Investigations into the incident by KiwiRail, Maritime NZ and the Transport Accident Investigation Commission are ongoing.
