Salvage of Rena Continues

Oil is now being continuously pumped at a stable rate from the submerged number 5 starboard fuel oil tank on the grounded container ship Rena, Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) says. As at 3 p.m. on 10th November, around 54 tonnes of heavy fuel oil from the tank had been transferred to the adjacent oil tanker Awanuia. MNZ Salvage Unit Manager Arthur Jobard said this left around 300 tonnes of oil still to be pumped off the ship to empty the final and most challenging tank.

 

 

Mr Jobard said the team was now working to speed up the pumping rate from the tank, in an effort to get the oil off as quickly as possible. The team was using a “hot tapping” technique, which is a method of extracting oil from the submerged tank without allowing the oil in the tank to leak out. The pumping rate is currently around three tonnes an hour but salvors were working to increase this by installing a fourth hot tap and adding other pumps. Mr Jobard said once all the oil had been pumped off the ship, then, weather permitting, container removal from Rena would begin. The container barge, Sea Tow 60, was already on hand ready to start work and the crane barge, Smit Borneo, was also on its way from Singapore and was due to arrive by early December. This bigger barge has a greater reach, which will enable it to recover containers out of reach of the ST60. It also has accommodation on board which will allow salvors to remain on the barge, thus saving transfer time.

 

National On Scene Commander Rob Service said shoreline clean-up assessment teams had been working on Motiti Island today, and on beach areas between Mount Maunganui and Maketu. New Zealand Defence Force personnel, volunteers and contractors were involved in clean-up operations in the same areas.