Maritime New Zealand is considering whether legislation needs to be changed to ensure they can ban poor-quality vessels coming to New Zealand.
Currently, the authority only has the ability to inspect and detain vessels — it can’t prevent a vessel from travelling here even if there are concerns.
Maritime New Zealand’s deputy chief executive of regulatory operations, Deb Despard, said concern about vessel quality was a worldwide issue.
“Feedback from port states around the world over the last three-five years is that there has been an increase in the number of poor quality or poorly managed ships in operation,” Despard said.
In the 2023-24 financial year, Maritime New Zealand undertook more than 350 inspections, up from 144 in 2020-21.
“We have increased our capacity in our Maritime Inspections team to meet the challenge of the increasing number of poor-quality vessels on our coast,” Despard said.
Other countries can ban vessels from entering their waters, but ministers needed to make final decisions on any legislative changes.
The proposed change was revealed in an Official Information Act request released to 1News about the Manahau barge, which grounded near Westport last year.
While Maritime NZ had some concerns about the vessel before it arrived in New Zealand, the company responsible said it was based on historical information and had confidence in the vessel.
One example of the issue is the Shiling, which had engine problems while in New Zealand in 2023, including a mayday call off Farewell Spit, prompting a major maritime response.
Shipping Federation Executive Director John Harbord said there had been an increase in the number of poor-quality vessels coming to New Zealand.
“The newer ships are larger than the older ships, and a lot of our ports are too small or too shallow to accommodate those larger ships. So we tend to get the older ships coming here.”
Harbord said older vessels are having their lives extended as the price of new ships soar.
“So ships that prior to Covid were on the scrap heap, that were going to be scrapped for iron are now selling for fifteen to twenty million dollars or more”.
The proposed change would only apply to foreign-flagged vessels, but many of the vessels that operate in New Zealand don’t operate under the Kiwi flag.
The Maritime Union calls them “flags of convenience”. The union’s national president Carl Findlay said: “It’s basically you don’t have to follow the rules, it’s a cop out”.
While they do have to obey many New Zealand laws, they largely follow their flag state.
Findlay says Maritime New Zealand should have the power to prevent vessels coming here.
“They do need more teeth, they need a lot more resource, and funding to get their staff, and they need the legislation changes to give them that grit.”
But John Harbord said no matter what flag the ship is under, vessels that operate domestically shouldn’t be included in the potential new rules.
“If the ship is operating every day of the year in New Zealand waters, then Maritime New Zealand as the regulator has multiple opportunities right throughout the year to monitor the quality of the ship and whether it’s safe to operate or not”.
Harbord said the federation was open to changes for vessels that visit New Zealand but thought the powers should be used sparingly.
