Rena left to creak alone

Fuel pumping operations aboard the container ship grounded 25km off the coast of Tauranga are suspended as the vessel rests on a reef buffeted by a storm.

There are 25 knot northwest winds and an about 3m swell at the Astrolabe Reef where Rena has sat since Wednesday, October 5.


Salvage teams have vacated Rena as an overnight storm approaches. MNZ salvage manager Bruce Anderson says aboard "It's grinding and creaking - the sound of a vessel dying."

She has leaked about 300 tonnes of oil into the sea in this time and in the last 24 hours has had about 90 tonnes of the remaining 1400 tonnes left aboard pumped off.

Maritime New Zealand salvage unit manager Andrew Berry says this operation has stopped as it is unsafe for the salvors to be aboard at night during the storm.

'They are going to attempt reboarding at first light tomorrow when conditions have hopefully abated.”

The ship has significant cracks on both its port and starboard sides and appears close to breaking in two.

Rena was heavily damaged in a bigger storm last week and Transport Minister Steven Joyce says the ship did not deteriorate further last night, but warns of what is to come.

'We are in quite a critical phase over the next 24 hours owing to weather conditions.”

Andrew says if the ship does break in two the preferred option is for its stern section to be towed by tugs, which are on standby, to shallow waters.

This will enable fuel pumping to continue more easily than if it sinks in deep water.

The danger during the detachment is that some or all of the fuel tanks holding about 1200 tonnes of oil will be damaged.

'There is always a risk that should the aft section detach there could be a puncture.”

The oil has killed about 1300 birds and there are 235 in the care of the Wildlife Response Centre at Te Maunga.

The wildlife field operations coordinator Dr Brent Stephenson says his team is continuing its success with pre-emptive capture of oiled birds including rare New Zealand Dotterels.

'We have now caught 46 dotterels, but we're hoping to capture 60 to ensure the sustainability of this population.”

There are about 100 estimated to be in the region affected by the oil slick.

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