Maritime NZ pressed charges against the Captain of the Panama-flagged bulk carrier Spinnaker SW on Friday 29 March 2019. The Captain was charged with allowing dangerous activity involving ships or maritime products under section 65(2) of the Maritime Transport Act 1994.
The Captain allowed the crew to load a cargo of logs onto the Spinnaker SW, without the use of personal protective equipment or systems to prevent falls from height, which led to unnecessary danger or risk to persons working on the Spinnaker SW.
He pleaded guilty to the offence and was sentenced before Judge Roberts in the District Court at Timaru. He also received a fine of $6,000.
Maritime NZ detained the Panama-flagged bulk carrier Spinnaker SW on 25 March 2019, at Bluff. The crew were working at height without any fall protection in place.
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A Maritime Officer became aware of possible safety issues on board the ship while it was loading logs. He then inspected the vessel’s Safety Management System (SMS) and personal protective equipment (PPE). The SMS mandated crewmembers working at height to wear PPEm which was in poor condition. Thus, the Maritime Officer imposed conditions on the ship requiring operations to be carried out according with the SMS.
The Captain breached this direction, and the crew aboard the vessel continued to work at height without PPE.
Maritime NZ Acting Regional Compliance Manager (Southern) Domonic Venz, stated:
It was disappointing to find that on 26 March 2019 the crew on the vessel were still working at height without safety lines or harnesses. The Maritime Officer then took immediate action escalating previous compliance actions and detained the vessel to further investigate the issues
On 27 March 2019 a Port State Control Officer inspected the ship and found deficiencies in their practices. The ship was detained under the Maritime Transport Act section 55. In addition, the ship Captain and other witnesses were interviewed by a Maritime Officer during the investigation for alleged ongoing safety breaches.
What is more, Maritime NZ performed a full Port State Control inspection of the Spinnaker SW due to the initial investigations. Then on 30 March 2019, the vessel passed the independent International Safety Management (ISM) audit and the port State Control officer released the vessel.
Now that the court case has finished the vessel can leave port.
Information about the detention has been communicated with other Asia-Pacific countries’ maritime authorities as part of the regional and international Port State Control (PSC) system that operates in the region under an agreement known as the ‘Tokyo MoU’.
