A French cruise company and ship’s Master have been fined $70,000 and $30,000 respectively for endangering human life and entering a prohibited zone following the 9 January 2017 grounding of the cruise ship L’Austral on an uncharted rock at the Snares Islands.
Namely, French company Compagnie du Ponant and Captain Regis Daumesnil were sentenced in the Wellington District Court on 2 October, after pleading guilty to charges regarding the incident. Both Maritime NZ and the Department of Conservation (DOC) brought charges against Captain Daumesnil, with DOC also prosecuting the company.
Charges were filed:
- against the Captain under the Maritime Transport Act 1994, for causing unnecessary danger or risk to the people onboard, and
- against both Captain and the company under the Resource Management Act 1991, for entering a 300m exclusion zone around the Islands.
The Summaries of Fact stated L’Austral had inadequate “passage plans” and failed to monitor the ship’s position near hazards to navigation. As a result of the grounding, the vessel’s hull was punctured in three places.
Rather than return to Bluff, the nearest port, Captain Daumesnil made the decision to continue on the cruise schedule to the Auckland Islands, a further 285km south, Maritime NZ noted. There were 356 passengers and crew onboard.
Maritime NZ Southern Regional Compliance Manager, Mike Vredenburg, said this case could have ended in tragedy and is a graphic warning of why passage planning is mandatory in New Zealand and internationally.
Captain Daumesnil had an inadequate plan for sailing around North East Island, no plan at all for drifting close to shore while recovering boats, did not identify areas of danger, and did not monitor that the ship remained in safe water, he underlined.
Ponant was fined $70,000 and Captain Daumesnil was fined $20,000 on one charge each under the Resource Management Act.
In arriving at the final sentences, the Court took account of the defendants’ guilty pleas and other personal mitigation factors – for Ponant this included its previous safety record and good character and for Captain Daumesnil the professional consequences that have resulted from the incident.
The Captain was fined $5,000 on each of two charges under the Maritime Transport Act.
The Court has ordered that 90% of the fine laid under the Resource Management Act charges be awarded to DOC, on behalf of the Minister of Conservation, as the local authority for the Subantarctic Islands. DOC intends to use those funds towards planning for its Auckland Islands pest eradication project.
The incident
The French-registered passenger vessel ‘L’Austral’ arrived off the Snares Islands early on the morning of 9 January 2017. The passengers spent the morning making shoreline excursions in rigid-hulled inflatable boats, observing the wildlife. That afternoon the weather became unsuitable for small-boat excursions, so L’Austral rendezvoused with the boats in the sheltered water to the south of the islands to take them back onboard.
While the master was focused on manoeuvring the ship to facilitate the safe recovery of the rigid-hulled inflatable boats, the ship drifted into a 300-metre unauthorised zone, where it contacted an uncharted rock.
The rock pierced the hull in an empty void tank, which flooded with water. The damaged compartment had little effect on the ship’s stability, and the ship was able to continue to another sub-Antarctic island before returning to New Zealand for temporary repairs. None of the 200 passengers and 156 crew were injured.
Review of the vessel’s paper chart, electronic chart display and GPS positions show that at the time of the grounding the vessel was being navigated without following any passage plan.
Immediately after the grounding alarms sounded, indicating water had entered the hull. Captain Daumesnil directed the area that had been holed to be isolated and checks made around it. It was confirmed no water had entered the oil sludge tank, fuel tanks, engine room or other spaces around the part of the hull that had been damaged.
The Captain then decided to sail 154 nm further south to Enderby Island to continue the cruise as scheduled. He reported the incident to French, but not New Zealand, authorities.
The nearest port to the Snares Islands is Bluff, 120 nm north, which itself is a considerable distance over ocean should a search and rescue operation have been needed.
L’Austral continued its cruise and returned to Bluff on January 12. Divers were contracted to inspect the damage and temporary repairs were carried out.
On January 13, Maritime NZ Maritime Officers carried out a regular PSC inspection of the ship. They became aware of the grounding, an investigation began and when it was discovered L’Austral had also entered an environmental exclusion zone DOC was advised and joined the investigation.
Findings
The investigation of the NZ Transport Accident Investigation Commission found that:
- The unauthorised zone was a Department of Conservation-controlled zone, where charts indicated dangers unsafe for ships the size of L’Austral.
- The uncharted rock was in an area that the Commission considers was not suitable for the safe navigation of ships the size of L’Austral.
- There are deficiencies in the way the crew worked together (bridge resource management), insufficient planning for boat recovery and inadequate monitoring of the ship’s position.
This case highlighted the crucial importance of passage planning for all parts of a voyage. Having no plans and inadequate plans for different parts of L’Austral’s voyage endangered the lives of 356 people and a pristine, UNESCO World Heritage site,
…said Maritime NZ.
Notably, ‘L’Austral’ became a subject of discussion after it grounded for a second time in a month, on 9 February 2017, at Milford Sound. TAIC stressed safety issues related to familiarization with ECDIS and bridge resource management.