MARICO Marine NZ Limited WELLINGTON HARBOUR PORT AND ...

Report No: 05NZ104 WELLINGTON HARBOUR
Issue: Issue 1.1 Operational Risk Assessment
8 PILOTAGE
8.1 INTRODUCTION
Although there are natural navigation hazards, the pilotage is relatively
straightforward with weather, particularly at the entrance and outer
boarding areas, providing the biggest limitation. However, if a vessel does get
into difficulty in adverse conditions in the approaches, there is only a
minimal margin of safety before a vessel is in serious danger of grounding.
The length of transit under pilotage from the outer boarding areas to a main
city berth is about 10 miles.
8.2 JURISDICTION AND REGULATORY RESPONSIBILITY
The outer limit of the Wellington Pilotage District is marked on NZ4633 as an
arc centred on Outer Rock of three miles radius and is therefore 0.85 miles
inside Wellington Harbour Limits. Thus the Pilotage District is approximate
only with the Regional Council Harbour Bylaw area of jurisdiction, pilotage
being the jurisdiction of Maritime New Zealand. However, as introduced in
section 4.1, the limit of compulsory pilotage is inside the entrance12 and the
outer limit of pilotage jurisdiction in reality provides only guidance for
boarding. This is taken further to a recommended solution in section 13.5.
Figure 9, below, repeats the limits of pilotage jurisdiction and shows the
four designated boarding areas, all outside the compulsory area.
Nationally Pilotage is regulated under the provisions of the Maritime
Transport Act 1994 through Maritime Rule Part 90. This Part came into
force in 2003. Vessels of more than 500GT (with the normal exception of
warships), are subject to Pilotage in the Compulsory Pilotage Limit of
Wellington Harbour.
8.3 BOARDING AREAS
Four Pilot Boarding Areas are designated within the Wellington Pilotage
District and located both within and outside the harbour entrance (shown on
Figure 9). Areas ‘Alpha’, Bravo’ and ‘Charlie’ are outer areas, located at the
seaward extremity of the Pilotage Limit and approximately 3 miles south of
the entrance. These are placed on and to either side of the line of the leads
12 The Compulsory Pilotage Limit for Wellington encompasses the harbour area north of a line between Point Gordon and
through the Rear lead to the eastern shore, as marked on NZ4633. This also coincides with the boundary between risk
assessment areas A and B.
Greater Wellington Regional Council /
CentrePort Ltd Page 51 of 102