China Navigation Co faces fines and reparation costs of NZD 54,000 ($35,000) for injuries sustained by a stevedore after he fell from one of its ships in New Zealand in late 2017.
The Singapore-based company was charged under section 65 of New Zealand’s Maritime Transport Act (MTA), which prohibits “dangerous activity involving ships or maritime products”.
The Tauranga District Court fined the company NZD 24,000 and ordered it to pay reparations of NZD 30,000 to the injured stevedore.
The 28-year-old stevedore fell eight metres onto a concrete wharf after a handrail broke on the 39,777-dwt log carrier Pakhoi (built 2016) on 19 December 2017.
Maritime New Zealand said the hand rail that failed had been damaged in July 2017 when the vessel was docked in India.
New Zealand authorities said the hand rail was welded back onto the ship, but the repair work was “poor and would not comply with the requirements of any approved structural steelwork standard”.
'Unsafe to use'
As a result, it said the hand rail and the ladder below it were “unsafe to use”.
On 18 December 2017, the Pakhoi arrived in Tauranga to load logs but, according to Maritime New Zealand, neither the ship’s master nor any members of the ship’s crew “conveyed any information about the repairs undertaken to the hand rail and ladder” to stevedoring company ISO before or during loading.
At about 7.20pm on 19 December 2017, the stevedore began to disembark from Pakhoi for a scheduled break.
He grabbed hold of the hand rail, which immediately broke completely free at its base where it had been welded.
The fall shattered bones in his legs and arms, fracturing vertebrae and resulted in severe internal injuries. Maritime New Zealand said he was saved from a serious head injury by his helmet and his backpack riding up behind his head as he fell.
He remained in hospital for 56 days following the incident and underwent a number of surgeries. Maritime New Zealand said his injuries will “affect him for the rest of his life”.
“Poor maintenance, and poor communication caused an incident that nearly killed this man,” Maritime New Zealand central region compliance manager Michael-Paul Abbott said.
“Shipping companies must ensure they carry out maintenance correctly and if there are any risks from using equipment on the ship, they must tell people using the ship so they can protect themselves.
“Shipping companies and other employers will be held to account if they operate a ship in a way that risks injuring or endangering workers and other people in New Zealand.”
China Navigation was approached for comment by TradeWinds, but it had not replied by the time of publication.
