Bay Of Islands News

Auckland-based tourism operator Explore Group expanded its fleet of passenger and tourism vessels late last year with the delivery of Tuhi Rapa, an Incat Crowther 29 design built by Australian shipyard Aluminium Marine. The vessel is designed to transport up to 300 passengers and has been plying the waters of Auckland Harbour and the Bay of Islands since its maiden voyage in late 2022.Designed to be used as both a passenger ferry as well as a wildlife sightseeing cruise vessel…

A cruise ship crew came to the rescue of six men from a leaky Tongan fishing boat, who had not had water for three days. The Rescue Coordination Centre of New Zealand organized for the German cruise ship Albatros to change course at 5 a.m. Saturday, after the fishing vessel crew set off an emergency rescue beacon 400 kilometers west south west of Tonga. The ship diverted 300 kilometers to help the distressed 11.5 meter fishing vessel. RCCNZ also requested an RNZAF P3 Orion to fly from Whenuapai to the position that the beacon was transmitting from.

Auckland’s bumper cruise season has officially kicked off with the arrival of Princess Cruises’ mega liner Diamond Princess into port today (October 08). New Zealand's tourism sector can expect a big boost, with a record breaking cruise season ahead. Sixteen ports around the country will benefit from cruise ship visits over the next six months, including the Bay of Islands, Gisborne and Dunedin. The Diamond Princess cruise ship is grand, it's royal and it's making her presence known at Auckland's Queen's Wharf and bringing with her the first of many visitors to New Zealand's shores. The 116,000-tonne, Diamond Princess arrived in the…

Vessel operators have an additional tool in their arsenal for preventing oil spills during bunkering operations. “Bunkering Best Practices: Protecting People and the Environment” is a free, 14-minute training video that demonstrates bunkering best practices applicable to the North American West Coast. That said; any marine operator – located anywhere on the globe – can glean valuable ‘take-aways’ from this video. The states of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington…

Vessel traffic on the Intracoastal Waterway near Bal Harbor, Florida is restricted following an incident involving a yacht and the Broad Causeway bridge. Due to the incident, only the bridge's west leaf is able to open. Restrictions on vessel traffic limit movement of large vessels with a width of 40 feet or less as only one half of the bridge is operational. Vessels with a height of less than 16 feet in height can transit as normal. Vessels with a height greater than 16 feet must have a width less than 40 feet to navigate through the waterway. The bridge connects North Miami to Bay Harbor Islands and Bal Harbor. The 161-foot yacht, Rockstar, was being towed by two tug boats Tuesday when the incident occurred.

Grave concerns are held for the crew of the historic American 21m (70ft) schooner Nina missing en route from Opua in the Bay of Islands to Newcastle, Australia. The vessel, built in 1928, left Opua on 29 May and has not been heard from since 4 June, 2013, when the vessel was about 370 nautical miles west-north-west of Cape Reinga. Uncrowned queen of the New York Yacht Club fleet, the incomparable 58-foot staysail schooner Niña was designed by Starling Burgess and built on Buzzards Bay at Monument Beach by Reuben Bigelow in 1928. There are seven people on board, six Americans (three men aged 17, 28 and 58, and three women aged 18, 60 and 73) and a British man aged 35.

“While moored off the coast of Dutch Harbor, the Noble Discoverer drill ship drifted toward land and stopped very near the coast. One of Shell’s vessels, the Lauren Foss, then safely towed the Discoverer to its prior mooring position,” Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said in a statement. Francis said a soft seabed that allowed the ship to drag its anchor and winds of up to 35 mph probably contributed to the problem. The area of the island the vessel approached is uninhabited and not far from Dutch Harbor, about 600 miles southwest of Kodiak. The Nobel Discoverer is one of two Shell ships that will drill exploratory oil wells in the Arctic waters of Alaska’s Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.

A high speed vessel operator's failure to investigate and address the causes of a series of serious back injuries to passengers has earned it a conviction, fines and reparation totalling $270,000, following a prosecution by Maritime New Zealand (MNZ). Intercity Group (NZ) Limited, owners of the Paihia-based high speed vessel Excitor III, was today sentenced in the Auckland District Court after earlier admitting two separate but identical charges under the Health and Safety in Employment Act (HSEA), relating to incidents in the Bay of Islands on 12 January and 22 March 2011 respectively. The two charges, both under sections 15 and 50…

Many companies can claim to be global, but Autoship Systems Corporation (ASC) of Vancouver, Canada talks the talk and walks the walk. ASC has been in the business of CAD/CAM software development for nearly 25 years. A core tenant of ASC has been to establish itself as leader in innovation, helping to ensure that as shipbuilding techniques evolved, the industry could rely on its CAD/CAM software to meet new design and construction needs. ASC recently assisted two shipyards to this end: Cantiere Navale Ippolito s.r.l. of Santa Maria di Castellabate, Italy; and Circa Marine and Industrial Ltd of Whangarei, New Zealand. Cantiere Navale Ippolito S.R.L. Cantiere Navale Ippolito s.r.l. is located in the Campania region of Southern Italy.