The recent defect discovered on the new police patrol vessel Te Kukupa II has been rectified, says the Cook Islands Police Service.

Police last month confirmed that the vessel gifted by the Australian Government “has been dealing with various defects” since its delivery a year ago.

The most recent fault was found as part of the routine checks following the regional operation, Tui Moana.

Police spokesperson Trevor Pitt told Cook Islands News last week that the defect that was discovered upon return from Tui Moana has been rectified. 

Pitt confirmed that the recent defect concerned a crankshaft issue.

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According to marineinsight.com, crankshaft is the intermediate part of a marine engine, which transfers the power of a firing cylinder from the reciprocating piston to the rotating propeller (or alternator in case of a generator).

Pitt earlier said that they were working with Australia to resolve the recent defects.

“All else is being managed/maintained as usual,” he said last week.

In June, Australian High Commissioner to the Cook Islands Phoebe Smith told Cook Islands News “in general, it is not our position to comment on the specific operational status of a sovereign asset of another nation”.

“As with every new product and design, especially one as complex as the Guardian-class Patrol Boats, issues are to be expected and will continue to be addressed with nations as they arise,” Smith said.

“Some issues have been discovered during normal operational use and maintenance and the Australian Defence Force will continue to work through these with the nations, to ensure impact on operations is kept to a minimum.”

Last year, the Australian Government embarked on a forced-recall of several patrol boats it gifted to Pacific Island nations, but at the time it told Cook Islands News that this was not expected to affect the Cook Islands-bound Te Kukupa II.

The 15^th Guardian-class patrol boat gifted by Australia replaced the original Te Kukupa which had given 33 years of service to the Cook Islands.

It arrived in the Cook Islands in July 2022., and has been used for a variety of tasks, including delivering vaccines to Palmerston Island.

• Additional reporting by Matthew Littlewood