Tauranga Chief arrived at Sydney from Port Kembla on 17 January 2003 on its normal liner route. It had sailed from Port Kembla the previous evening and arrived at the Sydney pilot boarding ground on schedule at 0300 local time. The pilot boarded as planned and the ship continued inwards toward the booked berth at White Bay container terminal. When the ship came to an intended course alteration position in the harbour, east of Bradleys Head, the pilot initiated the turn to starboard to round the headland. He firstly ordered 5° starboard rudder and, when the ship did not respond quickly enough, he increased the order to starboard 10°. The rate of swing increased markedly and so the pilot ordered port 20° to slow the swing. The seaman on the wheel made an error executing this last wheel order and instead applied starboard 20° wheel. Before the consequences of this error could be corrected, the ship ran aground on a mud/sand patch just south of the light on the southern end of the headland.
