Sixteen days ago, the log ship Zeus I arrived from Noumea and sailed the following day for Wellington to load more logs.
But the ship is not going anywhere in the meantime as it has been detained there at Aotea Quay since September 7, because of serious safety concerns.
This seems well out of line for a new ship, classed with Bureau Veritas of Paris, launched last October as Elliot Aconcagua and completed as Zeus I on June 10. The ship is expected to remain at Wellington for another week or so while non-compliance problems are addressed.
After boarding the ship, Maritime New Zealand inspectors found 37 deficiencies including problems with life-saving equipment, radio communications, ship certificates and documents, fire safety measures and mooring ties.
Maritime NZ inspections are carried out on foreign ships in New Zealand ports to ensure they comply with international maritime conventions, and are operated in accordance with national and international maritime laws.
Of the 561 foreign vessels inspected last year, 328 had some deficiency and eight were detained.
Safety of navigation accounted for 15% of deficiencies, followed by fire safety measures, problems with propulsion and auxiliary machinery, and life-saving equipment that was substandard.
The 16,833gt Panama flag Zeus I, is registered to the ownership of Falcon Shipping Inc, which is associated with the Shandong Province Qingdao Marine Shipping concern.
To date, 25 bulker-type vessels built in China have called here to discharge phosphate, but mainly to load logs, since December 1996.
They came from seven yards, with 11 having been built at the Hudong yard at Shanghai.
Zeus I is the only one to have been constructed by the Zhejiang Zhenghe Shipbuilding Company.
Talking of log ships, another two, East Ambition and Mount Rainier, are due this week on their first visits to Dunedin.
Last week, East Ambition was the subject of protest action by Greenpeace members when it arrived at Tauranga with a cargo of palm oil kernel.
So it is not the sort of thing the owners would have expected when they bought the vessel recently.
The red-hulled ship received its present name in August when taken over by Ever Trend Shipping Ltd, a company managed by the Sino East Transportation Company of Shanghai.
Prior to that it had traded from new, under the flag of Panama, as Sendai Bulker, owned by the Japanese-controlled Moses Lake Shipping S. A.
A 14-knot, 17,852gt, 28,378dwt vessel was laid down on July 8, 1999, launched on October 23, 1999, and delivered on February 15, 2000.
It was built at Setoda by Naikai Shipbuilding and Engineering, and is of a standard design that has been represented here by five sister ships in the past nine years.
Like East Ambition, Mount Rainier is also registered at Hong Kong.
This vessel, owned by Mount Rainier Ltd, is another of the increasing number of owned or chartered ships that have appeared here in recent years as part of Pacific Basin Shipping's fleet.
At 19,887gt and 32,895dwt, Mount Rainier will be the fifth and also the youngest of a larger class built by the Kanda yard at Kawajiri, that have called here in the past five years.
Handed over on August 30, 2005, its keel was laid down on December 27, 2004, and launching took place on May 5, 2005.
dougandmargaretxtra.co.nz
