Ship waits at wrong port

Press, 18 July 1980, Page 1

Ship waits at wrong port

PA Whangarei A big Japanese freighter, which arrived at the wrong “Mangonui” yesterday, will be investigated by the Ministry of Transport’s Marine Division. The Scan Triarrow Chine Hamikata waited for three hours outside the Fairway Reef near Doubtless Bay in Northland before a Mangonui resident went aboard and gave the master directions for her destination of Mount Maunganui. The seaworthiness of the vessel would now be investigated by the Ministry, said the assistant nautical adviser in the Marine Division (Captain David Boyes) from Wellington yesterday. Captain Boyes said Japanese crews were normally very good because of their thorough training. “The problem is that there is no international agreement on xvhat charts and crew a ship should carry,” he said. A spokesman .for the

ship’s agents said the master, Captain Kuang Ching Ya, told him his ship arrived off Mangonui after 3 a.m. on Wednesday. “He radioed for a pilot but none came out and so the ship was forced to wait a few hours until a fishing boat came out to redirect them,” the spokesman said. “The confusion probably arose because the ship was directed to Mount Maunganui, a place not listed in the New Zealand port index carried by ships. In that index it is listed as the Port of Tauranga.” Northland Harbour Board officials this year warned about the poor charts being used by some overseas vessels.

When the Mangonui man, Mr Aussie Seccombe, went alongside the ship, he said that the crew were already lowering the gangway and they were anxious for him to board the vessel, which he estimated to be about 10,000 tonnes.