NZ ship oil spill ’significant’

10 October 2011 Last updated at 20:19 ET

It is not clear how the Rena became stuck on a well-known reef

New Zealand officials say a “significant” amount of oil is now leaking from a cargo ship stranded on a reef off the country’s North Island.

Between 130-350 tonnes of oil is thought to have leaked from the vessel, far more than the 30 tonnes earlier estimated.

The container ship, the 775ft (236m) Rena, ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef off the port of Tauranga on Wednesday.

Bad weather has put a temporary halt to operations to pump oil off the vessel.

In a statement, Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) said the ship had sustained “some damage from current movement and there is a significant amount of oil leaking from the vessel”.

The statement said oil may also be leaking from the keel.

‘Stable’

An MNZ spokesman told the New Zealand Herald that oil was leaking from a main tank on the Rena and moving south-west towards Mt Maunganui, next to the port of Tauranga, on New Zealand’s North Island.

“One of the main tanks has been breached. It is very significant in the scheme of things,” the spokesman said.

The MNZ statement said the ship was intact but was moving around in the heavy seas.

There had been fears the bad weather might cause the ship to break up, spilling all of the 1,700 tonnes of heavy fuel oil the ship is believed to be carrying as well as its cargo of containers.

The remaining ship’s crew had been taken off the Rena. The vessel called a mayday, officials said as a precaution, to speed up the crew’s removal.

The ship was now in a more stable position than it had been, MNZ said, listing from 3-6 degrees instead of the previous 11 degrees as rock underneath the Rena’s bow had been ground down.

Clumps of heavy oil have been washing up on the beaches of Mt Maunganui and the nearby community of Papamoa.

MNZ said oil was expected to enter Tauranga port and reach beaches south to Maketu.

MNZ head Catherine Taylor said containing the oil would be difficult, given the Rena’s position on a reef and the weather battering the region.

Swells of up to four metres are making the use of dispersants on the oil difficult.

Once the weather has calmed enough to resume transferring the oil off the ship, the containers will be removed and then the Rena can be moved off the reef.

A tanker offloading the oil had to return to port for minor repairs. Strong seas meant the tanker would not have been able to resume operations anyway, officials said.

Officials have closed the affected beach and residents close to vulnerable coastlines have been told to stay out of the water.

About 200 people are involved in the salvage operation, while 300 military personnel are on stand-by to clean up beaches.

Ms Taylor told the BBC it would take several weeks to clean up the shoreline.

The area is home to colonies of penguins and shags while dolphins, porpoises and whales frequent the waters.

The owners of the ship, Greece-based Costamare Inc, have not given an explanation for the grounding, but said they were “co-operating fully with local authorities” to minimise any damage.

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