New Zealand crews pump all oil from stranded ship – Clean-up to take months

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, November 13 (AP) – Salvage crews have successfully removed all the remaining oil from a cargo ship that ran aground on a New Zealand reef, avoiding a worse environmental disaster. The vessel Rena grounded on the Astrolabe reef near Tauranga on Oct. 5 and authorities feared the worst as about 385 tons of oil initially spilled into the ocean, fouling local beaches. But in a stop-start effort, salvage crews began pumping oil in the days after the grounding while bad weather threatened to tear the ship apart. On Monday, Maritime New Zealand announced it had finished pumping 1,454 tons of oil from the ship and was sending a sea crane to the vessel to begin removing some of the 1,280 containers that remain on board. New Zealand’s government is welcoming the news.

New Zealand Crews Pump All Oil From Grounded Ship

By Dominique Schwartz
14 November 2011 Maritime officials in New Zealand say almost all of the heavy fuel oil has now been removed from the stricken cargo ship in the Bay of Plenty. Crews will now start to off-load more than 1,000 containers that are still on board the Rena. The government has congratulated the salvors who have pumped 1,300 tonnes of oil off the Rena. Maritime New Zealand says about 60 tonnes remain in a fuel tank, and will be mopped up manually. The Rena ran onto a reef off the Bay of Plenty six weeks ago, and spilled about 350 tonnes of oil, which washed onto beaches and killed and injured wildlife. Maritime New Zealand says work will now start on removing more than 1,200 containers from the ship – some of which contain hazardous materials. That job may take months. Initially, only six containers a day will be removed, depending on sea conditions.

NZ wreck clean-up to continue for months