KiwiRail has been fined $375,000 following the grounding of its ferry Aratere in Picton Harbour in June 2024.
The company was sentenced in the Wellington District Court on May 4 after pleading guilty to charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. The court also ordered KiwiRail to pay $25,000 in costs.
The Aratere ran aground at Titoki Bay on the evening of June 21, 2024, while operating a freight sailing between Picton and Wellington. There were 39 crew members and eight passengers on board at the time.
The vessel was refloated the following evening, with no oil spills or damage to the hull reported.
Maritime NZ’s investigation found the grounding followed changes to a safety-critical steering system and identified failures in KiwiRail’s change-management processes and organisational controls.
These included shortcomings in training and familiarisation, documentation, control of critical steering functions, and bridge resource management.
Maritime NZ director Kirstie Hewlett says the incident highlights the importance of ensuring crews fully understand safety-critical systems.
“Steering systems are safety-critical. The crew must have a clear understanding of how the systems work and how to override any automatic commands,” Hewlett says.
“In this case, there was a clear knowledge gap about how the newly installed steering console worked, including in an emergency.
“This event sends a clear message to operators to ensure Masters and crews are properly trained and provided sufficient time and opportunity to familiarise themselves when introducing safety critical equipment, so that they can correctly undertake all safety critical actions on the vessel.”
