Duncan Roy: Interislander Executive General Manager unpacks what happened with the Aratere grounding

Interislander executives are waiting for results of full investigations into Aratere's grounding near Picton last month, and aren't being drawn on speculation.

The Aratere has now arrived in Wellington, with its post grounding detention notice lifted.

A leaked safety bulletin suggests the ship was accidentally put in auto-pilot before running aground.

Interislander Executive General Manager Duncan Roy says he expects to hear back within the next couple of weeks.

"We've had the black box which has told us the facts - and the fact is the button was pushed,  that's what what we know. We'll wait for the rest of the investigation to go on, so that we know what occurred factually."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Back to the arter Teddy. Thanks to a leaked email,
we now know why the ferry grounded. Autopilot was on
and the crew couldn't take it off because they didn't
know that they had to press the button down for
five seconds.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Now.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
The leaked email was from inter Island. It was a
safety bulletin sent to masters and deck offices and it
went out last Friday until now the only thing that
ki Wei Rail has really said publicly is that it's
still investigating the incident. Ki Rail's inter Island A general
manager is Duncan Roy. Hey, Duncan Hi have it was
the ferry put on autopilot accidentally?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
The fairy sales and autopilot Occasionally that master is able
to choose when and where he does standard procedure, they
have it on autopilot for some and as the heart
of Master and picked and said yesterday, it was perfectly
appropriate for to be on autopilot in that part of
the sounds.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yep on this occasion. Was it an.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Accident, I'm sorry, an accident that it was on autopilot, that.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
It was put onto autopilot.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
No things that put on autopilot deliberately. Okay, what we've
got here, Heather, is there's an equivalent of a maritime
black box on a ship and that has the technical
data about what was happening at the time. So we
brought an International Express and had a look at that,
and they've said that there was an execute button that
was pushed while it was an autopilot, which caused the

(01:20):
ship to turn to the right to start it. And
that's the what. So we know what the w is.
Now what we don't understand is the how or the why.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Just get this right down. So it was supposed to
be an autopilot, but the execute button was accidentally pressed
which caused it to turn.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
That's correct. There was an execute button that we know
was pushed. We don't know why it was pushed, and
that's part of the investigation we're doing to find out
the how and the why.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Did the crew then have difficulty getting it off auto pilot.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
So that's the how and the why, Heather, and that's
what we're waiting for the investigation to find out.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
What do you know because you were reading because the
bulletins and see.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
What we've got to do is we're going to go
through this formal investigation so that we do a fair
process to our people and we get the facts so
we know. So we're not speculating the bulletin. You know
what the speculation was. I do know that the button
was pushed according to the data, and now we're going
to wait for the investigation to come out in town.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
The safety bulletin says that the bridge team attempted to
switch back to steering mode hand steering mode, but was
unable to override the autopilot in time. Is that correct
or not?

Speaker 2 (02:31):
That is what is a sermation. And we put that
safety bulletin out as part of good maritime practice to
let the rest of the fleet know.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
So you put out that safety bulletin, did.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
You yet that was released blinter on?

Speaker 1 (02:42):
So you put out the safety bulletin that said that
they were unable to override the autopilot in time. So
that is accurate.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
Oh that's what we believe. But we're waiting for the
facts to come out from the in depth investigation. Okay,
because what you need to do with the safety bulletin
is a flash report to get it out to your
people so that they can be aware it's a good
parition practice and understand and time what's going on.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Did they have trouble getting it off autopilot because they
didn't realize they had to push the button down for
five seconds.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
That's all part of the investigation.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
That's I'm going yes, But is that your understanding at
this point in time they didn't know they had to
press it down for five seconds?

Speaker 2 (03:18):
I don't. I'm waiting for the investigation hither because I'm
not going to speculate, and we're waiting to have a
fair and equable process for the people that are involved
in this.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Was there somebody on that ship who knew how to
get it out of autopilot?

Speaker 2 (03:34):
The people on that ship were qualified at the time,
and as they said here that this is speculation, we've
got to go through this.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Don't do this, Dunken. Look, you guys look silly. If
there is a bi bulletin that's gone out which tells
people what's going on, and then you're sitting here on
the radio telling me you can't talk about it, you
look silly. So let's talk about it like adults. Okay.
Was there somebody on that ship who knew how to
get it out of autopilot? Or was there nobody on
that ship who knew?

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Heither? As I said, I'm going to be fair to
the people in the investigation. We're going to let the
process follow. We've had the black box, which has told
us the fact, the fact that the button was pushed.
That's what we know. We'll wait for the rest of
the investigations I go on so that we know what
occurred factually the person who.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Knew how to get it out of autopilot? Were they
on the bridge with everybody else or had they gone
off for a coffee.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
So there's a regulatory number of people that have to
be on the bridge at any one time, and especially
in coastal waters, and there's a master, a number two helmsman,
and someone observing, and we follow those regulatory requirements without exception.
And on that night, those people were on the bridge.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
And did any of them know how to get it
out of autopilot?

Speaker 2 (04:42):
As I said, hither the facts will come out when
the investigation completes. But those people were part of the investigation,
and I'm not going to speculate. We're going to have
a fair process. We're going to be follow the facts
and that will come out.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
When did you guys realize enough to put that bulletin out.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
The bulletin came out as standing maritime practice because we
wanted to get out to the fleet after the after
the event, so that the rest of the fleet knew
what an event and knew that their button had been pushed.
As you'll seeing that bulletin, it says that this is
summation and that we will have more to know when
the investigation finishes.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
The bulletin states, so the bulletin, the bulletin came out
on July the fifth, which is fully six days ago.
How long before the bulletin did you actually know what
had really happened?

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Well, the technicians came across from overseas. They're international technicians,
and as soon as we had the facts from the
black box, we put it out on the bulletin.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
Okay, So you so you basically found out on July
the fifth, you found out six days ago.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, because we had to bring the technicians across and
Detroy didn't you tell.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
Us when you put that bulletin out? Why don't you
tell the rest of us what had happened?

Speaker 2 (05:52):
Because either we're going through the investigation, this is the
part we can't surmise. We're going to be fair to you, and.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
I know what this investors about, right, This investigation is
just about giving you guys a bit of time to
be able to come up with a pr strategy so
you can say you fixed everything. You don't look as
ridiculous as you do right now, hiding mind it.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
It's about our people Hither, It's about the process, and
it's about being fair to those people that are being
investigated now by two external investigators, the Transport Investigation Commission,
the Maritime New Zealand and our internal investigation. Most people
deserve the right to be able to go through the
process of that speculation and have a fear and equitable here.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
How long is your inquiry going to take?

Speaker 2 (06:34):
Our one is? We're going through it. I expect that
I'll hear something back in the next couple of weeks.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
All right, look forward to talking to you. Duncan listen,
thank you very much for coming on the show.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
That's Duncan Roy Into Island, a general manager. For more
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