Maintenance, weather led to ship collision

Inadequate maintenance and poor weather contributed to a collision between two foreign-flagged ships off Fremantle port last year, a transport safety investigator has found.

The near-150m Panama-registered Royal Pescadores lost its anchorage during bad weather in May 2014 before drifting into the Hong Kong-flagged Da Heng Shan, causing damage to both vessels.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau found the Royal Pescadores' anchoring equipment had been poorly maintained but also identified issues with the Fremantle vessel traffic service (VTS), which led to a delay in implementing measures in worsening weather conditions.

The Fremantle VTS has revised its weather-related procedures since the incident and upgraded equipment to better identify changes in wind speed, according to the report.