The owner of the wrecked container ship Rena, Diamantis Manos is publicly apologising to the people of Tauranga for the mess his ship is making.

'To the people of Tauranga, we want to say that we are deeply sorry for the situation that has arisen and the threat you are now facing from fuel oil from the vessel washing up on the beaches in your beautiful part of the world,” says Diamantis.

Rena owner Diamantis Manos says ‘signomi', or ‘sorry' in English, on video for the environmental disaster his ship has caused.

'It is our ship that went aground and we apologise without hesitation for what has happened.
'We have sent the best experts from around the world to try to help deal with the situation. They have been working closely with Maritime New Zealand and other agencies together with professional Salvors to try to stabilise the ship and mitigate the effects of the casualty.

'We thank the hundreds of people who have already turned up or signed up to help and assure you that our people will remain on site and we will continue to engage the Salvors and various experts to try to prevent the worst from occurring.”
Rena departed the port of Napier on October 4, and at 2.18am on October 5 struck the Astrolabe Reef.

'We are currently investigating how this disastrous event could have occurred, says Diamantis.

'Our captain is an experienced master and has an exemplary record. The ship was fully certified and had recently been inspected by the Flag State and New Zealand Port State Control in August and September 2011 respectively. They found no problems.

'Obviously something went very wrong and we will cooperate with the Transport Accident Investigation Commission of New Zealand (TAIC) to find the answer.”
Costamare has been closely associated with the Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association for many years and for the Mediterranean Shipping Company, one drop of oil in the water is one drop too much, says Diamantis.

'It is therefore a matter of great regret that a ship associated with us should be the cause of so much anguish.”
Costamare Shipping Company SA will be cooperating closely with the Transport Accident Investigation Commission of New Zealand in their inquiry into the grounding. Costamare has invited TAIC to visit its offices to examine the company's Safety Management System for the Rena and to try to answer any questions.

'That enquiry will be ongoing with our own investigations and while it will be inappropriate for us to publicly speculate on the cause of the grounding at this stage, we do feel it is necessary, and it may be helpful, to correct a false assertion that has appeared in the media in recent days.”
It is true that Rena was inspected by Port State Control at Bluff on September 28, but it is not true that defects were found, says Diamantis.

Rena also had no outstanding defects resulting from an inspection in Fremantle in July.

'Before leaving Australia the vessel was independently inspected by the Flag Sate at Port Botany on 2 August 2011. The attending surveyor certified that there were no defects or outstanding recommendations,” says Diamantis.