Onshore container salvage operations are underway on a custom built concrete pad in Te Maunga with the contents of all 34 containers processed there so far not saveable.

Workers today unloaded a container full of fish cocktails at the 3000sqm site at Truman Lane.

The site was built by United Kingdom based company Braemar Howells to process containers from the Rena – grounded on the Astrolabe Reef since October 5.

Braemar Howells operations team leader Jason Loach at the container processing site in Te Maunga.

Braemar Howells operations team leader Jason Loach says the site has processed 34 containers in 10 days.

'So far all of the containers have been refrigerated and cannot be salvaged. In this case (the fish cocktails) the waste will be loaded onto the lorry and taken to the landfill.

'A lot of the other containers have been empty ones that are in very good condition and are processed at the port.”

Each container arriving at the site from the Port of Tauranga is decontaminated before being put onto ‘The Pad' – a concrete block at the centre of the facility.

Seals on the containers are then broken before a crane is used to lift the container and empty the contents.

Jason says each container is treated differently according to its cargo.

'We have a manifest of all of the containers and know what is inside them.

'As soon as we know a container is coming in we have a toolbox meeting and decide the best way to handle the container.”

For the more fragile items Jason says the contents are de-vanned manually by the operations team.

Once containers have been emptied they are internally washed and de-sanitised before being returned to the shipping company MSC, which chartered the Rena.

Decisions on whether or not cargo can be salvaged are made by cargo surveyors working on behalf of container owners and customs agents.

'We don't know the state of the contents until we open the containers up. Then we know if they can be salvaged and whether it can be re-sealed and sent away.”

The site has processed 600 tonnes of waste, 80 tonnes of which has gone to recyclable purposes.

Eniro-Waste technical services general manager Wayne Plummer says the site has processed 10 containers in one day, but some days it will only receive one or two.

'It all depends on when they can remove the containers and what condition they are in. Every container is a work in progress.”

Odours at the facility are kept to a minimum through fencing and sterilising mist emitted from the tops of fences.

However, Jason says there have been a few particularly 'smelly containers”.

'One of the first containers we had contained meat patties and when we got it off the lorry, it just split in two and spilled out everywhere.”

Although the team at Te Maunga has not yet encountered any oiled containers, a separate cleaning facility, including lighting for night operations, has been set up within the site.

Specialists from Braemar Howells arrived in Tauranga six weeks ago and immediately started constructing the site near the wastewater plant in Mount Maunganui using local materials and contractors.

'We are trying to get some good out of the bad and put something back into the community of Tauranga.”

The site has its own drainage and water systems and has between five and 15 staff working on site at any given time.

The operations team is made up of Braemar Howells professionals; six have come from the United Kingdom and six from Australia, and industry professionals include Port of Tauranga staff who have been contracted to assist in processing.

Jason says all of the people working on the Rena incident have been amazing and would like to thank them for their hard work.