Shiling Safely Arrives in Wellington Harbor

The Shiling will shortly be piloted into berth at Wellington’s CentrePort.

It has taken about 24 hours for the ocean going tug, the Skandi Emerald to tow the vessel from Tasman Bay to Wellington.

From this vessel losing power on 12 May, to it coming into Wellington today, this has been a complex operation, involving a significant number of people and organisations, not just here, but around the world, Incident Controller David Billington says.

"From its call for assistance on that morning, through to CentrePort’s pilotage into berth, we have seen response agencies, the owners of the Skandi Emerald , international insurers, the owners and harbourmasters have worked tirelessly to support this tow.

This is a 290+ metre vessel and there are a lot of variables to manage when planning its movements.

"This includes, weather, other vessels and berthing availabilities.

"We saw on the weekend there were rough conditions forecast at its anchorage at Tasman Bay, and Nelson Harbourmaster supported this operation by allowing the Shiling to be towed to a point of shelter," David Billington says.

Maritime NZ also checked in on the crew of 24 during the period the vessel was without power.

The Incident Response Team will be standing down when the vessel is berthed.