Marine Link
Thursday, March 28, 2024
SUBSCRIBE

Tauranga District Court News

17 Sep 2020

NZ Fines Master for Leaving Port with Known Engine Problems

Funing (Photo: Maritime NZ)

A cargo ship master and chief engineer have been sentenced and fined after admitting to charges relating known engine problems that led to their ship to lose power and run aground at the Port of Tauranga in July.The Singapore-registered log-carrier MV Funing lost power and passed over a channel marker with the propeller becoming caught in the markerchain, before making contact with a sand bar in the Tauranga Harbor channel.A Maritime NZ investigation and subsequent prosecution…

05 Sep 2012

Guilty 'Rena' Officers Serve Jail Terms, Go Free

Ship captain Mauro Balomaga, 44, and navigator Leonil Relon, 37, released after serving seven months in New Zealand prison. The pair  were sentenced to seven months' jail in May for operating a vessel in a manner likely to cause danger, discharging a contaminant and altering ship documents. With sentences under two years, the Filipino men were to be automatically released after serving half of their jail term.Balomaga's lawyer Paul Mabey confirmed to Fairfax NZ News that the pair were being released from Waikeria Prison and would then be deported to the Philippines. The men were charged under the Maritime Transport Act, Resource Management Act and Crimes Act after the Rena crashed on the Astrolabe Reef on October 5 last year.

22 Aug 2012

Wrecked Container Ship 'Rena' Owners Face Maximum Penalty

A court hearing into charges faced by the company that owns the wrecked container ship Rena has been adjourned again. Daina Shipping had been due to appear in the Tauranga District Court today, but the hearing has been adjourned to 5, October (the anniversary of the grounding of the ship). Maritime New Zealand has laid the charges and the company faces a maximum fine of $600,000 plus an extra $10,000 for every day the offending continues.

29 Feb 2012

Rena Wreck – Master & Second Officer Plead Guilty

Rena: Photo credit CCL NZ Defence Force

The Master and Second Officer of the cargo vessel Rena pleaded guilty to 10 out of the 11 charges laid by Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) against the men following an investigation into the ship's grounding on the Astrolabe Reef off Tauranga on 5 October. MNZ charged the Master and the ship’s Second Officer (Navigation) with a number of offences following the ship’s grounding. On 12 October, MNZ charged both men under section 65 of the Maritime Transport Act (MTA) 1994, “for operating a vessel in a manner causing unnecessary danger or risk”.