61354

Sea Breezes Magazine

The reoorting of oil spills and grounded ships on these pages is becoming all too common and łhis month yet another vessel has been added to a long list of casualties in

the region.

During the early hours of 5th October the Container ship Rena ran aground in the Bay of Plenty off the port of Tauranga on the North Island of New Zealand.

The ship was on passage from Napier to Tauranga when she contacted the Astrolabe Reef sustaining a ruptured hull causing fuel oil to leak into the ocean.

7hree-quarters fuli, with some 2,100 containers and about 1,700 tonnes of heavy fuel oil on-board, the Rena took on a 10 degree list. As a precaution fuel in the vessel’s port tanks was shifted to the starboard side. Pumps were in operation to remove water from two holds affected by several breaches to the hull. There were no injuries to the 25 crewmembers on-board.

Svitzer Salvage was appointed by the owners for the salvage operation under a Lloyd's Open Form. The Liberian flagged ship is owned by Greek-based Costamare and was on charter to Mediterranean Shipping Company at $15,000 per day. However, as salvage efforts got underway, high waves and strong winds created substantial problems for salvors, causing morę loss of oil due to fresh damage to the duet keel. Morę than 70 containers fell from the ship which had developed an 18° list in the heavy weather.

As fear grew that the vessel may break up. spewing morę fuel oil on to beaches, the Rena s master and the second officer, who was on watch at the time of the grounding, were charged in a New Zealand court on 12th October for “operating a vessel in a manner causing unnecessary danger and risk". The charge carries a maximum penalty of $7,810, or 12 months in prison. New Zealand media said that the master, a 44-year-old Philippine national, did not make a plea. The court suppressed his name and remanded him on bail.

As Sea Breezes went to press (end of October) the salvage team had removed 737 tonnes of fuel oil from the ship. This left about 650 tonnes of fuel on the vessel, distributed between the submerged starboard number five tank and three tanks in the engine room. A dive team was continuing to work on establishing a fuel transfer system r^he"-^{ber flve} starboard tank - the most difficult oil transfer of all In the three weeks _łh oh ⁶ u ⁶⁰³ 9^rounded there had been a huge amount of work done by members of up to help ^resp0nse *^{eam and the more} than 6700 volunteers who had put their hands