Container ship Shiling (IMO 9290452) is becoming something of an unwelcome visitor to New Zealand after it lost power and steering in heavy seas off the west coast of New Zealand during the morning of May 12th, and had to be towed to safety.
The Singapore-flagged vessel had previously suffered an engine failure while navigating Wellington Harbour on April 15th. It had to anchor and was subsequently towed back to berth by two tugs. The incident caused some disruption to other shipping operations in Wellington and also disrupted an inbound-outbound ferry.
The Regional Harbourmaster then issued a direction that the vessel remain at the dock until repairs were completed, preventing it from even moving to the anchorage. The Shiling had to undertake an engine test before departing and to complete at least one full turn (to the pilot’s satisfaction) in the northern part of the harbour.
The Shiling was meant to be on the return leg of a voyage that started in Singapore on March 25th. On April 15th it was in the main shipping channel when it lost power, drifted out of the main channel, crossed a sandbar, and then dropped both anchors.
This time round the Shiling requested assistance from Maritime New Zealand at around 08:30 local time Friday after losing main propulsion while en route from Auckland to Wellington. It started rolling severely after drifting into heavy swells about 22nm northwest of Farewell Spit. At 11:00 it issued a mayday call The 24 crewmembers on board were preparing to abandon ship, according to Maritime New Zealand.
New Zealand authorities arranged a tow from a nearby oceangoing tug, DOF’s Skandi Emerald. After connecting up with the Shiling the vessels headed for Golden Bay where the container ship anchored to be assessed for repair.
No injuries were reported and all cargo was said to have remained secure. MNZ said that at no time was the vessel in danger of running aground.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said that it was investigating the cause of this incident and rendering assistance to the ship’s master and technical manager Asian-Alliance Ship Management (ASM) of Singapore.
2005-built, Singapore-flagged, 53,807 gt Shiling is owned by Shiling Navigation Pte Ltd care of Asian-Alliance Ship Management Pte of Singapore. It is entered with Swedish Club (Singapore Domestic team) on behalf of Shiling Navigation Pte Ltd. As of April 18th the vessel was moored at Wellington. As of May 13th the vessel was at anchor in the Tasman Bay, west of Wellington and north of Nelson. Its ETA in Singapore is currently May 23rd.