Oil spill response vessel dedicated

The Awanui berthed at the Bridge Marina. Photo: Supplied.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council staff are holding a special ceremony at The Strand today to bless their new boat Awanui.

Awanui is an 11.25 metre oil spill response/multi role vessel that will help Council's maritime team with oil spill response, navigation aid maintenance and safety on the water.

The reason for the $624,000 craft's purchase can be laid squarely at the feet of the Great Mobil Oil Spill of Anzac weekend 2015.

An estimated 1500 litres of heavy fuel oil spilled into the harbour under the Mount Maunganui wharf and carried by an incoming tide and gale force northerlies, was blown up the harbour as far as Maungatapu.

'There isn't anything different we could have done on the day that spill happened, because the weather was atrocious,” says harbourmaster Peter Buell.

'But we looked at it and said, ‘what if the spill had happened on another day? Are we as well equipped as we think we should be? And the answer was, we thought we could do better.

'So that was the starting point for what we looked at here. But when you look at a vessel like this you don't want it to be just for oil spills, because that's a lot of money for something that would never get used or very rarely used.

'By adding the navigation aid function to it, it becomes a vessel we will be able use an awful lot. She becomes very capable for us and has a multi-role function.”

Awanui looks like a landing craft. It has bow doors, a Palfinger crane on starboard, and a spud on the portside.

A spud is a long pole that is used to keep the craft in one place, with more precision that is offered by an anchor.

Powered by twin Suzuki 250hp outboards it has a top speed of 30 knots light, says Peter.

Awanui made the delivery voyage from Auckland in seven and a half hours.

Also part of the equipment is the oil skimmer that can be deployed and recovered by the crane, either over the side or through the opened bow ramp.

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