The captain and officials of MV Rena made "a series of poor decisions," which led to the ship's crash into Astrolabe Reef off Tauranga in October, says Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby.

Mr. Crosby made the statement Thursday following the release of report by a Transport Accident Investigation Commission, which the mayor described to be "revealing."

The 20-page commission report said the captain was under pressure to reach Tauranga before the ebbing tide.

The report did not cast blame and was focused on facts, according to APNZ.

Still, Mr Crosby said the pressure was enough for the captain to make wrong decisions that resulted in the crash, which subsequently brought to Tauranga a major oil spill -- New Zealand's worst maritime disaster.

"It really just highlights the pressure that captain and crew were under to get to Tauranga at a certain point in time and some decisions they made to do that,'' said the mayor.

Of the report, he said the public would be surprised by the contents, implying that the public would understand what he meant by "a series of poor decisions" that the Rena team had made.

"I just hope these people are never allowed onto a vessel again, or in charge of a vessel, because they're just totally incompetent,'' the mayor said further.

For his part, Bay of Plenty Regional Council Chairman John Cronin welcomed the report, saying it answered questions for the Bay of Plenty community.

"Our communities have been through a lot since this accident and hopefully the information provided in this report will help [them] better understand what happened and then assist them in the healing process," Chairman Cronin said.