Crew and salvage team evacuations of the grounded 236m container ship Rena are complete.
The evacuation followed a mayday call from the ship this morning, an act Maritime New Zealand says was a precaution undertaken to speed up the evacuation.
Maritime New Zealand salvage unit manager Bruce Anderson says this is a precautionary measure as the vessel is moving.
Rena, caught on the Astrolabe Reef. Photo taken this morning. NZDF.
The movement was triggered by the overnight storm when more than 3m swell and 30-40 knot northeasterly winds buffeted the vessel, partially re-correcting its port-side lean.
Since it grounded on the Astrolabe Reef last Wednesday it has been on an 11 degree port-side lean and is now on a five degree port-side lean.
Bruce says while there is some new damage to the ship, it is not breaking-up.
'The vessel is not going to break up at this time; it is just refinding its equilibrium.”
Bruce Anderson at a press conference this morning said the evacuation is an issue of health and safety.
17 comments
Just refinding my equilibrium
Posted on 11-10-2011 11:36 | By JSmithington
Bruce's statement of course leaves it wide open for the ship to break up, just "not at this time." Talk about useful information! Oh well. I guess we'll leave taking care of the ship to the experts. But for goodness sake let the people of Tauranga help with the beach clean-up. It doesn't take an army of rocket scientists to put on gloves and carry a bag or two.
toxic?
Posted on 11-10-2011 11:47 | By dgk
I loved the video on the news of barefoot surf rescue people running around telling people to avoid the beach...
my gosh.....
Posted on 11-10-2011 12:07 | By Donnaw
they were pretty quick to evacuate the ship......shame the same speed wasnt used to contain the oil from spreading at the start....surely there should have been a few meetings, then a proceedure put on paper before they evacuated.....isnt this "normal proceedure"
Just leave it
Posted on 11-10-2011 12:34 | By Kin
So in 6 days it's gone from an 11 degree lean to 5 degrees. By my calculations if they leave it until Sunday it should be upright. Maybe a couple of days after that it will reverse off the reef. Job done.
Me Pessimistic!!
Posted on 11-10-2011 12:52 | By CCarr
Call me sceptical but I hope the crew arent going to be allowed to leave the country...remember the Rainbow warrior debacle - French agents allowed to be "imprisoned" out of NZ!! I would like to see the faces of the people that are to blame for this monumental disaster!
More hands.
Posted on 11-10-2011 13:03 | By TGA33
Well if they are off the ship maybe they can come to the beach and help clean up the mess they made.
Off the ship, and out of the country?
Posted on 11-10-2011 13:09 | By PeteDashwood
So what is the situation regarding the Master of this vessel? Is he allowed to leave NZ jurisdiction, pending an enquiry? How can that be right? In the USA he would be arraigned and held or released on bail pending an investigation. Somebody has to answer some questions on this and the Master would be the key player. We have already seen a stream of prevarication and mis-information over this (the first reports said the ship was NOT leaking oil), tardy responses from the NZ authorities, controversial containment measures, do we now complete the lunacy by letting a key witness walk?
Time for work
Posted on 11-10-2011 13:15 | By philiphallen
Now that the crew have been evacuated from the ship lets hpe that they have all been arrested, and that we will be seeing them in a chain gang cleaning up the bloody mess they have caused to our beaches
Shagrat
Posted on 11-10-2011 13:38 | By Shagrat
....but at least the penguins and shags are being looked after!!!
Well Done
Posted on 11-10-2011 14:07 | By Jitter
Good work guys. Considering the fact that there is virtually no equipment in NZ to cope with a disaster such as this the people on the spot are doing a good job. Successive Governments and Maritime NZ have a lot to answer for. When you consider NZ is a country that relies mainly on maritime services for its imports and exports, there should be a full set of suitable vessels and equipment stored cenrally in the event of such a disaster. There must be thousands of vessels entering and leaving our five major ports every year carrying hundreds of millions of tonnes of cargo. Accidents do happen so the NZ maritime system needs to be prepared and equipped for this. Lets hope this is a big wake up call for those in "control" ie Maritime NZ. Public Relations is pretty poor also and needs a good rark up.
HALLOOOO
Posted on 11-10-2011 14:52 | By CCarr
Bruce Anderson or someone, anyone please tell me the captain & crew are locked in irons in the local police station!!!! Perhaps their holding up at his place not in the care of Her Majesty! Perhaps their winging their way to the other side of the world as I rant! Grrrr
shipwreck
Posted on 11-10-2011 16:07 | By Glen Clova
Why dont they blast the reef and free the ship,that would cure the problem and then make sure the reef was blasted away so that there was plenty room for ships to sail over it.
Kiwi driver?
Posted on 11-10-2011 16:26 | By Kin
You all assume it's a johnny foreigner driving the boat. Let's examine the facts. Which country, more than any other I know of, allows it's drivers to get shitfaced, smoke dope, drive uninsured and unroadworthy vehicles and generally drive like they're rounding up sheep? NEW ZEALAND. The captain probably thought he was on a New Zealand road.
You don't issue a Mayday...
Posted on 11-10-2011 17:15 | By theschizzle
as a precautionary measure. Mayday is 'Mayday' (imminent danger) - 'Pan Pan' is a precautionary measure. Someone's telling little porkies about how serious this is... do they really think the people of the Bay of Plenty are that stupid?
Ship wreck
Posted on 11-10-2011 20:35 | By ship wreck
Shouldn't a Mayday have been made six days ago, then we may have got some action. This whole thing is very frustrating. Evacuated because of Health and Safety issues, what about our health and safety Issues, have they thought about them. These guys should stay on the boat, now they are free to go home. Well Done team!
@ Jitter
Posted on 11-10-2011 20:51 | By SpeakUp
NZ DOES HAVE oil disaster equipment: >>>http://www.maritimenz.govt.nz/Environmental/Responding-to-spills-and-pollution/Past-spill-responses/Image-gallery.asp <<< See also here about the cost of MNZ response >>>http://www.maritimenz.govt.nz/Environmental/Responding-to-spills-and-pollution/Spill-response-equipment.asp <<< These COSTS were what the salvage and insurance comp wanted to avoid, convincing MNZ for the first 4 days that corporate interests were sufficiently dealing with the situation. A grave misjudgement.
HEALTH & SAFETY
Posted on 12-10-2011 00:28 | By DRONE
Not for us at all, take a look at "What they have done ..." the reason for this is all about economics, that means a lot of ships have little or no work so there is a need to get rid of a few on insurance.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to make a comment.