Wrecked Container Ship 'Rena' Salvage & Cargo Recovery Update

The first steel fore sections cut & removed 'Rena', with the Bell 214 heavy-lift helicopter completing 14 separate lifts to the barge Kapua.

Salvage (Resolve Marine)

    •    The barge made its first landing in Tauranga with an estimated 40 tonnes of steel, which included  deck equipment and pieces of winches from the fo’c’sle.

    •    Work is continuing with the modifications to the helicopter landing platform, and pre-cutting of upper decks, fo’c’sle deck, and equipment.

    •    Helicopter-to-barge transfers will continue next week.

Braemar/Unimar Recovery Operations

    •    Braemar Howells/Unimar teams heading out to sea to attempt to recover more Rena containers from the seabed – at depths greater than 50 metres.

    •    Since last week eight containers have been recovered.  All had been rigged by a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV)

    •    The recovery of those eight containers brings the total number of containers retrieved to 977. (There were 1368 containers on board).

    •    Clean-up work continues on beaches.  Clean-up teams are also working in the Coromandel.

    •    Debris recovery using a Unimar barge is also continuing at sea around the Rena where container flotsam and scrap steel has been collected this week.

The oil spill response has been reduced from a Tier 3, or national level, to Tier 2, or regional level, response. Any queries about the oil spill response should now be directed to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.