Joyce: Oil leak to get worse

Oil pollution from the stranded container ship Rena is going to get worse before it gets better; and some oil is going to come ashore says Transport Minister Steven Joyce.

His opening statement at today's press conference was underlined with the news that the first oil-fouled sea bird has been washed ashore on Papamoa Beach.

Oil leaking from container ship Rena, which is expected to come ashore. See video below of SunLive reporter Phillipa Yalden getting a first-hand insight into the oil slick.

A penguin, which was found on the beach mid afternoon, is now in the hands of the Oiled Animals response team based at the Tauranga City Council's Te Maunga water treatment plant.

'The situation with the oil is going to get worse before it gets better,” says Steven. 'There's no getting around that fact.
'This is the hand we have been dealt with, next we see how best we recover from that situation.”

His visit and fly-over of the Rena, which is stuck fast on Astrolabe Reef, was to see what was required and ensure the resources are available.

The resources and associated personnel are now arriving in Tauranga: There is 1250m of offshore containment boom and three large skimmers on their way from Australia. Rob says, however, that even the relatively calm conditions on the reef today would overwhelm the offshore boom.

They are finding their best method of handling the oil is by using the dispersant Corexit 9500.
Today's off-shore wind is also helping. Questions about its toxicity were allayed by Waikato University chair in environmental science professor Chris Battershill.

The Salvors onboard the Rena say they can begin discharging the fuel oil from the ship's tanks into the lighter Awanuia, which is expected on Monday.

There is an estimated 1700 tonnes of fuel oil onboard the Rena. About 100 tonnes of oil is believed to be within the ship, presumed leaking into the sea from damaged piping. How much will leak into the sea is unknown.

'Where this might go is a guessing game, it depends on the weather and how much is released,” says Maritime New Zealand national on-scene commander Rob Service.

SunLive reporter Phillipa Yalden handling the oil on the boundry of the 1km exclusion zone from stranded container ship Rena.

So far, weather and tide have swirled the plume about the ship.

Removing the oil from the ship will also take an undetermined amount of time.

Bad weather is expected on Tuesday with 20 knot northerlies predicted to blow for two days, clearing Thursday.

Part of the salvors' work today is preparing the ship for the expected blow says Rob.

The tanks are being secured so even if the ship is knocked off the reef and sinks, the oil will remain onboard.

The fully laden container ship Rena struck the Astrolabe Reef at 2.20am Wednesday.
The Transport Accident Investigation Commission has completed the initial interviews with the three bridge crew on duty when the ship struck the reef and the ship's ‘black box' of navigation records was flown to Australia today.

A preliminary report on the facts may be available in a few months.

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9 comments

Who's responsible?

Posted on 07-10-2011 18:10 | By wreck1080

As soon as the ship hit the reef the authorities should have had arranged for the tanks to be emptied of fuel.It means, we'll have had 3 days of unnecessary leakage now. Could the containers be pushed into the water and towed to Motiti to be dealt with at a later date?


Too Late?

Posted on 07-10-2011 18:16 | By straw

The boom/skimmers arrives from Aust on Monday, the strong Northerly arrives Tuesday. Which will win the race?IMOP, mother nature is a cruel enemy. I know the 'horse ' has bolted, but surely with the increased size of ships comming into our waters, we need our own emergency equipment


wake up Tauranga...

Posted on 07-10-2011 18:45 | By beached

Moreyoil.co.nz is based 2hrs away in Auckland and has enough organic spill sorb to have maintained the oil spill. "Spill-Sorb is a non-toxic, all natural, 100% organic, lab-tested, field proven, industrial absorbent that is economical, efficient, non-abrasive, non-toxic, non-leaching and in its natural state is already biodegraded. Spill-Sorb absorbent provides absorbent solutions for land and off shore applications" maritime NZ have known about this product but would rather use a toxic spray to "disperse" or rather try and hide the oil! saturday is day 4 and next weeks northerly flow will really show how bad this is! I feel sorry for people who own property on the beach and business who rely on the sea to survive! wake up Tauranga...


no shit sherlock...

Posted on 07-10-2011 19:05 | By claypole

and you're a Minister!


Unprepared....

Posted on 07-10-2011 19:34 | By dgk

So, the best equipment to deal with this doesn't exist in the BOP (currently steaming from up north maybe), or even in New Zealand (being shipped from Australia). Gee, this level of preparedness doesn't instill much confidence in our government.


OK EBOP........

Posted on 07-10-2011 20:19 | By Tony

Here is your chance ....Forget The Freakig Veladrome ....Looks like you might get the chance to spend some dollars localy


realise

Posted on 07-10-2011 20:36 | By basil65

You people don't seem to get it. You want a free market Government, then this is the price you pay. To save on costs, and return enough to shareholders, we have to cut back on defence and prevention. As someone that works in one of the frontline sevices, I know from experience that it will never happen in NZ. haha So we don't need the specialty equipment on hand?


Why the delay???

Posted on 08-10-2011 06:57 | By SpeakUp

Why is there no speedy approach? Is that not obvious? It is the old and proven use of a crisis for gain and profit. EVERYBODY involved in the bureaucracy, in assessment, planning, supervision, insurance, legalities, investigation, salvage, clean up, political aftermath and so on, is profiteering from this sort of disaster. 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. Smokescreen bureaucracy = superfluous officialdom draining society.


Strange that the first posts on Sunlive

Posted on 08-10-2011 10:35 | By Gee Really

had authorities threatening spectator boats with up to a $20,000 fine. I told them then to get on with solving the problem and leave spectators alone. Spectators can tell us what's really going on minus the spin. Thank goodness for the sunlive boat reporting.


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