The container ship Vega Auriga is expected to sail from Tauranga this afternoon, however it will leave empty of cargo.

It's also unclear where the ship is headed and it has no work prospects in the South Pacific.

The Vega Auriga.

The ship was on charter Mediterranean Shipping Company which is no longer able to use the ship on its Australia, Noumea, New Zealand route because it has been banned from Australian ports for three months.

When the ship arrived in Tauranga on Sunday an inspection found the ship had 14 faults, 11 of which have to be fixed before the ship could put to sea again.

It's cargo of containers was discharged at Sulphur Point.

'It is fair to say the deficiencies are an indication of poor management and a lack of resources,” says Maritime NZ spokesman Steve Rendle.

An earlier New Zealand Port State Control inspection found 9 deficiencies. They were similar in nature to those found in Sunday's inspection but they were not the same deficiencies, says Steve.

The Vega Auriga departed Brisbane on August 25 with three of a total 21 identified deficiencies remaining outstanding.

The remaining three deficiencies, due to their less serious nature, were given three months to be rectified. When the vessel departed Brisbane, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority did not consider it on that day to be unseaworthy or substandard, says the authority in a statement today.

The decision to ban the Vega Auriga from visiting any Australian port within the next three months was based on its repeated record of detention and multiple deficiencies since July 25, 2013. AMSA noted that while corrective action was taken at the time to rectify a number of serious deficiencies, they resurfaced multiple times and it was apparent that the companies approach to proper preventative action was ineffective.

'AMSA was concerned that while we could be satisfied the vessel was not unseaworthy when it departed an Australian port, we could not be confident that it would remain in this condition when it returned to our waters. The risk this posed was considered significant by AMSA. This was the basis of the ban,” says AMSA ship safety division manager Allan Swartz.

The Vega Auriga is German owned and operated. There is a Filipino crew. There are eight officers and nine crew on board which is well in excess of the minimum safe manning requirements.

The nationality of the officers is not known, but language issues on board are among those flagged by New Zealand inspectors in the list of deficiencies.

Other safety deficiencies found on Sunday include: Crew records relating to hours of rest not being recorded properly, and the crew not given copies.

Rest periods for watchkeeping do not conform to the International Maritime Organisation's Standards of Training Certification and Watchkeeping, minimum requirements.

The Global Maritime Distress Safety System log book is not signed off by the master as per instructions. By international agreement a record is to be kept of all incidents connected with the radio communication service which appear to be of importance to safety of life at sea.

There is a fault in the forward mast navigation light that has to be repaired before the ship departs.

The Electronic Chart Display & Information System appears to be being used for navigation, which is against International Maritime Organization regulations.

There is no single working language on board, which is against regulations.

The Emergency generator air inlet shroud parted from frame, the purifier room self-closing door not closing fully.

The Garbage placard at garbage station out of date, and there are no local control procedures for controllable pitch propellor operation. The starboard life raft cradle is corroded and must also be repaired before the Vega Auriga departs.

The oily rag bin in the engine room has no lid, which is a fire hazard.

Communication between the wheelhouse and the enclosed wing bridge is inoperable and there is no procedure in place to compensate.

Of 329 ships that underwent Port State Control inspections in New Zealand ports in 2013, seven were detained. The Vega Auriga is not detained. No Figures are available from Maritime New Zealand for the 2014 year.

In previous years there were 16 ships detained in 2012 and 12 detained in 2011.

Australia is party to the Maritime Labour Convention 2006, which came into force internationally in 2013. The New Zealand process of analysis and consultation is expected to take another 18 months, says Steve Rendle.

Consultation closed with the Ministry on July 11. Feedback will be mulled over before a national interest analysis by a Parliamentary Select Committee, before the development and introduction of legislation and Maritime Rules changes to ensure compliance with the Convention, after which New Zealand could ratify the Convention.