Grounding of the Panama flag general cargo ship New Reach

Summary

The Panama flag general cargo ship New Reach sailed from Cairns, Queensland, at 0654 on 16 May 1999 bound for Penang, Malaysia, with a full cargo of sugar. A licensed pilot was embarked to take charge of the navigation through the inner route of the Great Barrier Reef.

At about 1020 on 16 May, New Reach passed Low Isles, the southern limit of the compulsory pilotage area.

The pilotage proceeded routinely until about 0311 on 17 May, when, after making a routine mandatory report to the Reef Reporting Centre, the pilot realised that the light on Heath Reef was in the wrong position relative to the ship's heading. He altered course to port to bring New Reach to the west of Heath Reef. At about 0320, the ship grounded in shallow waters about 220 m south of the reef edge on a heading of 327, about one hour before low water.

Nobody was hurt as a result of the grounding and no oil or other pollutant escaped from the ship.

At about 0920 on 17 May, New Reach was refloated under its own power and, after reporting to the Reef Centre, went to anchor south of Night Island, 17 nautical miles to the north. The Australian authorities issued detention orders. At 1314 the vessel was given permission to move to Lloyd Bay, close to the Lockhart River Settlement and its airstrip.

On 18 May, divers, surveyors and other officials boarded the vessel. A new pilot also joined New Reach to relieve the pilot on board.

After an underwater inspection by the divers and an examination of the fore peak tank by the class society surveyor, the ship was cleared to resume its voyage. The vessel cleared Booby Island at 0530 on 19 May.

Conclusions

These conclusions identify the different factors contributing to the incident and should not be read as apportioning blame or liability to any particular individual or organisation.

Based on the evidence available, the following factors are considered to have contributed to the incident:

• When the pilot realised that the ship was out of position, he did not establish the ship's true position to allow him to take appropriate action based on full and correct information.
• The pilot's navigation of the ship in proximity to Heath Reef was based on insufficient information, faulty analysis and inexperience.
• The pilot made an error of judgement, and his overall performance was affected by fatigue.
• The pilot did not have any effective strategy to manage or counteract inevitable fatigue levels.
• Neither the master nor pilot briefed the watchkeeping officers on the passage through the inner route. Communications regarding navigation between the pilot and the officers on watch was minimal.
• The 2nd mate did not fulfil his duties and obligations to maintain the ship on course by bringing the pilot's attention to the plotted position of 0249 or the plotted position of 0307.
• Approaching Heath Reef, the 2nd mate established that the ship was to the east of the intended course line but did not alert the pilot to the ship's position.
• With the pilot on the bridge for the passage from Fife Reef, the 2nd mate was unconcerned at the relative position of Heath Reef light.
• There was a marked lack of bridge resource management, which led to New Reach grounding through over- reliance on a single person.
• The fishing vessel Shanendale was well clear of New Reach and did not in any way restrict the cargo ship's sea room.