Babycape grounding blamed on Aussie port’s ‘poor risk assessment’

Gaps in an Australian port’s risk plans have been blamed for the grounding of a babycape two years ago, a government report has found.

The incident in November 2017 involved the fully laden 115,000-dwt Orient Centaur (built 2010) as it was transiting the South Channel out of the Port of Weipa, Queensland.

Just over an hour after departing from the wharf, the ship’s main engine shut down due to a loss of water from a cracked engine cooling component, and propulsion was lost.