Cunard Cruise Ship and Tug Boat Bump in Wellington

[Kiwi_cruiser]

From Dominion Post

 

A tug boat packed with pleasure seekers collided with the Queen Elizabeth cruise liner during CentrePort's open day.

 

CentrePort has begun an internal investigation and notified Maritime NZ of the accident, which happened about 3pm on Saturday.

 

The tug master in charge of the Toia tug was presently on rostered days off, marine services manager and chief pilot Charles Smith said.

 

He would not say whether the "very experienced" tug master had been stood down, however, The Dominion Post understands that would be the usual procedure after such an incident.

 

Mr Smith said nobody was injured in the incident but the Toia was filled to capacity with 50 people on board.... Read More

 

Cruise Critic also picked up this story: http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5225

 

They are also talking about this on the Cunard forum

[MMDown Under]

From Dominion Post

 

 

 

Cruise Critic also picked up this story: http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5225

 

They are also talking about this on the Cunard forum

 

Sounds like the tug master got carried away trying to impress his passengers on the "Open Day".

 

Love the following reported comment for the ship's agent -

 

Cruise New Zealand chairman Craig Harris, agent for the Queen Elizabeth, said under usual circumstances in a collision ship owner Cunard would "note protest" with the port about the incident while awaiting an investigation.

 

There were hundreds of similar incidents each year, he said. "This was unusual because the ship was sitting alongside [the wharf] and the bloody thing hit it."

[erewhon]

Thanks for this posting, and the link.