As forecast five metre swells threaten to push more containers off the stricken ship Rena, one Tauranga resident is not holding out much hope for the return of the furniture he has aboard in five containers.

Tauranga furniture importer Derin Greenslade holds little hope for the five containers of furniture he had onboard the Rena when it ran aground on October 5.

Furniture importer Derin Greenslade had five containers carrying furniture from Asia, China and Vietnam aboard the Rena when it ran aground on October 5.

He says he does not know if the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of furniture is still in containers onboard the ship, or in waters around the Bay of Plenty.

'We don't know if they are on the boat or in the water.

'With the ship on such a 22 degree lean I believe what it has done is locked the containers together so tightly they are under so much pressure, the likelihood of getting the goods back in any decent condition is very remote.”

New Zealand MetService has issued a gale warning for the Bay of Plenty in marine areas with winds up to 35 knots predicted for Tuesday evening.

There were 1368 containers onboard Rena when it grounded, 88 of these have been lost overboard, 30 have been recovered and 58 are still unaccounted for.

As the owner of the goods in the containers Derin says he will be entitled to the products if the containers were to be salvaged, but does not know if they will be worth anything by that time.

'There has been a lot of rotten produce, meat and food that is permeating odours through everything. I wouldn't want to sit on a lounge suite that has been sitting next to a container with rotting meat in it.”

Derin owns Peak Imports in Tauranga and regularly uses Mediterranean Shipping Company, who chartered the Rena, to carry goods.

'They are superb – we don't have any issues with them. They are a professional shipping organisation.”

Derin has lived in Tauranga for more than 30 years and says he is more worried about the impact on the coastline than the commercial side of the loss of furniture.

'At the end of the day you are talking about material goods.

'Oil seeping into the sea has a much bigger implication for our region, so if you look at it like that we really are not that badly affected.”

Derin is kept up-to-date with shipping container movements and once they got the news the ship was on the reef he contacted clients to let them know they won't be getting the goods this week.

'Once we realised the implication of the oil, it became far greater importance than the state of the containers.”