Here’s a photo of the commercial barge which became stranded on Carters Beach last week. I wonder how much the State spent extracting it.
In the Press it was reported:
Former harbourmaster David Barnes said the barge was underpowered and had insufficient propulsion.
He said the Westport bar could be crossed safely when it was calm, but this week the bar had been hit with 4.5m swells.
The barge was waiting offshore in Buller Bay for several days due to the bad weather preventing it going into Westport’s Buller River, where it picks up the mineral sand.
“Out at anchor, she was pitching. Her bow and stern were lifting out of the water like a rocking horse. She should never have left Golden Bay – the weather forecast has been ratshit for the past two weeks. Commercial expediency is the problem here,” he said.
“You should not anchor in Buller Bay when you’ve got north to westerly swells, it’s untenable”.
Barnes did not believe the incident had anything to do with a lack of experience of the non-Kiwi crew, who got it to New Zealand without issue. The Maritime Union of New Zealand has raised concerns about the crew, understood to be mainly from Indonesia, not knowing how to navigate the tricky West Coast waters.
Barnes said bringing the barge into an extremely dangerous environment was the issue, not the crew.
Maybe Shane Jones, who reputedly launched this vessel, should consult people who know what they are doing on the West Coast instead of companies just interested in extracting resources.
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