Rena update #233

The past seven days has been highly productive for Resolve Salvage & Fire - wreck reduction has progressed through the removal of 85 individual pieces of steel, with the total steel weight removed now 300 tonnes. The reduction has mainly occurred in the Forecastle Deck area.  

• Joseph Farrell III, Resolve’s Naval Architect who manages all day-to-day operations on board the Rena, says “progress is particularly encouraging considering the challenging weather that has prevented work for one and a half full days over the past week”.
• During the week Maritime New Zealand officials have visited the wreck to see how work is progressing and review safety arrangements.
• Joseph Farrell III says: “Resolve’s success in this project is dependent upon the support of many local NZ partners. Managing the supply of huge quantities of gas to execute the steel burning operations is a real challenge. However, our partners the BOC Group in Tauranga and Auckland have performed exceptionally, providing technicians to visit the Rena and instigating technological solutions to assist cutting operations.”

Braemar Howells/Unimar Update

Braemar Howells’ post-Rena environmental clean-up endeavours continue on land and at sea.

• The Braemar Howells/Unimar team and Rena owners and insurers welcomed the arrival this week of a new debris-recovery vessel.  The Tasman Challenger has been specifically modified for the debris collection task and will be put to work next week, weather permitting. The 30m vessel has been fitted with a crane and static mooring equipment to be used in the recovery of debris from the seabed around the Rena.  This will include container scrap and heavier cargo that has sunk to the ocean floor.
• Debris clean-up continues on Matakana Island in the Bay of Plenty, and in the Coromandel area. During the month of August alone, 3.5 tonnes of debris – primarily comprising small polymer beads – have been collected from Coromandel beaches.  Collection has been from predominantly the area stretching between Hot Water Beach and Opito Bay.  While stretches of beach in the Coromandel are clear of beads, there are pockets where concentrations of beads are still being found.

Oil spill response

• Bay of Plenty Regional Council continues to oversee the Rena oil spill response. While the Tier 2 response was today downgraded, the Regional Council will continue to respond to reports of oil washing up as part of its day to day business.
• People are encouraged to report any sightings of oil to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council Pollution Prevention Hotline on 0800 884 883.
• The Regional Council also continues to work with wreck removal and debris recovery contractors to ensure the risk of further oil spills are managed. Resolve Salvage & Fire has an oil spill contingency plan in place and have response equipment and trained staff at the wreck site. Braemar Howells has oil spill response equipment on their vessel patrolling the 2 mile exclusion zone.

Maritime New Zealand oil spill response media team

www.maritimenz.govt.nz

Media queries (including wildlife queries) - 0800 774 554

International media queries - +64 4 499 7318

Media contact for owners and insurers, Hugo Shanahan, +64 275 111 561

Braemar Howells spokesperson Monique O'Connor (for media queries relating to container and debris recovery) Monday-Wednesday - +64 274 575 700

Braemar Howells spokesperson Grant Dyson (for media queries relating to container and debris recovery) Thursday-Sunday - +64 27 668 6242

To report sightings of oil - 0800 OIL SPILL (0800 645 774)

To report sightings of oiled wildlife - 0800 333 771

To report sightings of containers or container debris - 0800 333 771