Big ships' near miss off Rosebud sparks safety probe into port, pilots

Big ships' near miss off Rosebud sparks safety probe into port, pilots
Adam Carey 12 September 2018 https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/big-ships-near-miss-off-rose...

Victoria’s maritime safety regulator is investigating a potentially disastrous near miss in which two large commercial ships came close to colliding in Port Phillip Bay.

A 200-metre vessel laden with cars is believed to have veered off course and into the path of a 42,000-tonne container ship offshore from Rosebud in the early hours of August 12.

Maritime Safety Victoria is probing how the two ships came to be on a collision course.

Following the incident, Ports Minister Luke Donnellan asked the watchdog to investigate whether any regulatory changes ought to be made to improve safety in Victoria’s shipping channels.

Tracking of the incident on the Marine Traffic website indicates car-carrying vessel Tomar travelled off its line while rounding a bend in the shipping channel and into the path of CPO Jacksonville, a 260-metre container ship bound for the Port of Melbourne.

A source in the shipping industry said the vessels came within 50 seconds of colliding and were travelling towards each other at a closing speed of about 35 knots.

Rachel Gualano, Maritime Safety Victoria’s director of maritime safety, said the regulator would investigate the "close quarters incident" as well as those parties responsible for safety in port waters.
Maritime Safety Victoria is investigating a close quarters incident between two large vessels in Port Phillip Bay.

Maritime Safety Victoria is investigating a close quarters incident between two large vessels in Port Phillip Bay.
Photo: Jessica Shapiro

“These incidents are invariably complex, and involve a number of parties and contributing factors, so Maritime Safety Victoria is devoting the effort and time required to come to a considered solution as soon as possible,” Ms Gualano said.

The near miss has also exposed fierce competitive tension between the two sea-piloting companies that operate in and out of the Port of Melbourne.

Tomar was being piloted by a new sea piloting company called APG, which began operating in February.

CPO Jacksonville was being piloted by Port Phillip Sea Pilots, which has operated since 1839 and until this year had a monopoly on the Port of Melbourne's sea piloting operations.

Transport Safety Victoria approved APG’s entry into the market following heavy lobbying by the shipping industry, which argued competition in sea piloting would reduce fees.

Rod Nairn is chief executive of industry group Shipping Australia, and said he had been pushing to break up Port Phillip Sea Pilots’ monopoly for several years as a way to push down costs.

He also said it was possible there had been other near misses between commercial vessels in port waters that had not been reported to the regulator.

“When you’ve got two different companies out there operating, they’re watching out for each other and they’re willing to report on each other,” Mr Nairn said.

“So if somebody does something wrong it’s more likely it will be seen and picked up.”

Mr Nairn said that competition between sea pilots would improve safety in the long run.

But the two companies are at loggerheads, with APG alleging anti-competitive behaviour by its more established commercial rival.

The Age understands that APG has recently asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to investigate whether Port Phillip Sea Pilots is in breach of competition law under the terms of a new effects test that passed federal parliament in October 2017.

The ACCC declined to comment, citing a media code of conduct that prevents it commenting on complaints or potential investigations.

The Port of Melbourne is Australia’s busiest, handling almost 3 million shipping containers last financial year.

The Andrews government privatised the port in 2016, leasing it to the Lonsdale Consortium for 50 years in a $9.7 billion transaction.

Mr Donnellan said he was awaiting the outcome of the investigation by Marine Safety Victoria.

The government's review of maritime safety also follows a series of questions on notice in parliament by Victorian Greens MP Sam Hibbins.

Maritime Safety Victoria said it would publish a summary of the investigation findings when it was complete.