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There are fears for wildlife as fuel leaking from the container ship Rena heads towards the marine wildlife reserve Mayor Island.
Maritime New Zealand has confirmed oil is still leaking from the ship and that the oil is fuel oil.
Oil leaking from the bow of Rena.
An assessment team has now gone to the area in a vessel to conduct a closer analysis.
The team will be conducting dispersant field tests to assess the potential effectiveness of a dispersant operation.
If the tests are successful, it is likely a dispersant operation will be launched this afternoon.
Maritime New Zealand’s national on scene commander Rob Service says the on-water assessment would provide a clearer picture of what the oil spill response team was dealing with.
Rob says if there is a significant amount of oil on the water dispersant works will take place, where the water is diluted to assist in its natural breakdown.
Rob says dispersant operations are only undertaken after careful consideration of the impact on the environment.
A wildlife response plan is also now in action, with specialist oiled wildlife wash and rehabilitation equipment being mobilised and underway from Massey University.
The equipment is due to arrive in Tauranga this afternoon and a wildlife centre will be set up.
An aerial observation flight this morning has confirmed oil leakage from the cargo vessel overnight has led to a light oil slick of 2000m.
Fuel tanks have been moved from the port to the starboard side of the ship to balance the ship and remove any tanks that may be punctured.
Maritime New Zealand has confirmed the ship is carrying dangerous goods.
“We know the product is packaged and its location on the vessel has been identified so any necessary steps to protect it can be taken.”
“We have been advised that the vessel is carrying four containers of ferrosilicon. This substance, which is a solid matter, has the potential to cause risk if it comes into contact with water. It can give off hydrogen which can cause a fire risk.”
The 236m cargo vessel struck the Astrolabe Reef, near Tauranga Harbour, around 2.20am on Wednesday, October 5.
The Astrolabe Reef is about 4 nautical miles north of Motiti Island (about 12 nautical miles off the coast).
Posted on 07-10-2011 09:39 | By SpeakUp
Never let a good crises go to waste. Get the best buck for the bang. A whole apparatus of administrators, consultants, bureaucrats, agencies etc wants to be fed. Competency and decisiveness has been replaced by trying to appear important and in control, but otherwise acting with typical bureaucratic menace. Kiwi ingenuity has been replaced by excessive bureaucratic rules and laws. A multy-layered, suffocating and unsustainable bureaucracy is not only GDP draining but in this case also failing to provide fast and pragmatic service. What are we paying these people for?