A ship's anchors prevented a "catastrophic stranding" on a rocky shore in heavy weather, a safety investigation has found, faulting the ship's operator, maritime agencies, a port authority and a salvage company.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau's final report into the July 2022 incident found the bulk carrier Portland Bay left Port Kembla, south of Sydney, but remained near the coast instead of safely clearing it.
Multiple engine problems as the Hong Kong-flagged vessel pitched and rolled reduced speed to a minimum, "effectively disabling the ship in bad weather" and endangering the crew.
The vessel was carrying 950 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, raising concerns a grounding would have dire environmental consequences.
When the master reported to the ship's operators, Pacific Basin Shipping, he was not advised about notifying authorities.
This led to a delay in reporting the situation to the Port Authority of NSW's vessel traffic service, compounded by the service not promptly forwarding the master's report to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
"The various delays resulted in delaying the tug assistance requested and the master had to deploy both anchors to prevent stranding," said the report, released on Thursday, the bureau's most comprehensive marine investigation in nearly two decades.
Rescue helicopters were sent to the ship but had to abandon a plan to winch the crew to safety due to the ship's instability.
Three tugs began towing the carrier away from the coast but one towline parted in rough seas, causing the vessel to again drift towards the shore, prompting the master to again deploy anchors.
ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said the anchors, while not designed to hold the ship in such severe conditions, "prevented a catastrophic stranding on the rocky shore".
An emergency towage vessel was sent from Newcastle and the vessel was towed into Port Botany for repairs on July 6.
The ATSB report identified several emergency response issues, including that AMSA and port authority procedures were "not effectively implemented".
It also found the co-ordination of critical elements of the emergency response between the port authority, Transport for NSW and AMSA were inadequate and inconsistent with the National Plan for Maritime Environmental Emergencies.
"These safety issues prolonged the emergency and the exposure to stranding, with potentially severe consequences."
The investigation also found United Salvage was limited in its ability to provide the salvage services required as it did not operate towage vessels, so was reliant on towage providers.
Pacific Basin Shipping has revised its crisis management procedures to include at least one exercise each year and to stress early reporting of incidents
AMSA has reviewed emergency procedures and increased staffing and training.
The ATSB recommended AMSA, the NSW port authority and maritime arm of Transport for NSW take further action on issues raised in the report.
"Three legislated bodies had a defined role within relevant legislation and state and national plans to respond to this emergency, but each agency did not believe that the response necessarily fell within their responsibility," Mr Mitchell said.
The report noted failures in emergency response were usually associated with actions that were "too little, too late".
"Australia's National Plan reiterates the principle of over‑escalation in an initial response as it is more effective to scale down than up."
