KiwiRail is issuing an apology following a Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) preliminary report into the loss of power experienced by its Interislander ferry Kaitaki in January this year.
TAIC found that a critical rubber joint deteriorated on Kaitaki contributing to problems in its cooling system. It’s now calling on Maritime New Zealand to address critical safety issues with the maintenance and management of ship engine cooling systems.
The fault caused the ship to lose propulsion power near the end of its journey to Wellington with 864 passengers onboard. No one was injured in the incident.
“This was a serious event, and we are deeply sorry for any distress it caused to our passengers and crew,” KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy says.
“Safety is Interislander’s top priority. I am proud of how our crew responded, in an extremely stressful situation and in line with all our training, to keep passengers safe and get the ship back to port as quickly as possible.
“Since the incident we’ve inspected all rubber joints across the entire fleet and replaced all safety critical rubber expansion joints on Kaitaki and the rest of the fleet, as a precautionary measure.
“We have also audited all critical equipment on our ferries and taken a number of additional steps, over and above the processes we already have in place, to prevent future events like the one on January 28,” Reidy says.
Rubber expansion joints currently used in Interislander’s safety critical systems are from a manufacturer which advises a storage life of up to 10 years, and an in-service life of up to five years.
Reidy says KiwiRail’s current regime for inspecting and replacing rubber expansion joints exceeds manufacturers’ guidelines, and TAIC’s recommendations, and has been audited by international class authorities and Maritime NZ.
