Tuesday 10 January 2012

Breaking news of Rena

Stern of Rena slipping from reef
The stern section of the cargo ship Rena is slipping from the Astrolabe Reef, off the Bay of Plenty coast, and much of it is now submerged



Radio New Zealand,
10 January, 2011

The vessel grounded on the reef on 5 October last year and has broken into two pieces. The stern began slipping from about 8.30am on Tuesday.

Svitzer Salvage spokesperson Matt Watson, speaking from a helicopter above the ship on Tuesday morning, told Radio New Zealand News the rear section of the stern was submerged and the broken front section was sticking up out of the water.
"It has taken about 45 minutes to get into this position - it appears now that she is holding."

The bow of the ship remained in place on the reef.

Containers spill

Environmental clean-up company Braemar Howells estimates that 400 containers are in the stern section of the Rena.

Spokesperson Grant Dyson says a handful of containers have emerged from the sunken section.

Two tugs have been diverted to the area to take and tow any containers that may surface, he says.

Some 150 containers are estimated to have fallen from the vessel during severe weather at the weekend. Of those, about 25 had washed up on Matakana Island in western Bay of Plenty and 12 others, along with spilled debris had come ashore on Waihi Beach by Tuesday morning.

Work was underway on Waihi Beach, from Papamoa to Kaituna Cut and on Matakana Island to clear debris, an Maritime New Zealand statement said.

Maritime New Zealand has said debris from the Rena could wash up as far as Mercury Bay on the Coromandel Peninsula.

Oil response

Maritime New Zealand said a small amount of oil had spilled from the stern, along with debris - mostly timber - and a small number of containers.

National on scene commander Alex van Wijngaarden said the first oil was likely to reach Motiti Island on Tuesday evening with more predicted to reach the shore at Pukehina on Wednesday.

Oil spill response teams were preparing to clean up the oil and place booms in sensitive areas. The oiled wildlife centre in Tauranga was being reactivated.

Maritime New Zealand said the amount of oil released had not yet been calculated, but is known to be only a fraction of the size of spill released last October.

Exclusion zone

Bay of Plenty Regional Council's Harbourmaster directed all vessels to stay at least 200 metres clear of all containers from the Rena, as well as any salvage vessel working on the response.

These temporary exclusion zones are in addition to the existing exclusion zone, which is an area of sea within three nautical miles of the Astrolabe Reef and any part of the cargo ship.

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