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What is the latest situation?

Salvage

• Rough weather at the reef earlier in the week caused some disruption to salvage activity but salvors resumed work yesterday and made good progress, removing a large number of bundles of aluminium ingots from the number 1 hold.
• Salvors have also continued to remove containers and pieces of hatch covers and other debris from the bow section of the wreck.
• The wreck remains in a fragile state, subject to the weather conditions. Monitoring has confirmed some further deterioration in the bow section caused by flexing of the wreck. The bow section remains fixed hard on the reef.
• There are currently moderate winds out at the Astrolabe Reef with a sea state of between .5 and 1m. Both the sea state and the winds are expected to drop over the weekend and remain relatively calm through into next week.

Container and debris recovery

• The Braemar Howells recovery team is continuing its efforts to recover plastic beads from parts of the Coromandel and Matakana Island in particular.
• Shoreline teams are working in areas including Matapaua Bay, and clean-up methods using modified vacuum equipment is working well. Helicopters are being used to recover debris from isolated areas and transfer it to motorised barges standing by offshore.
• On Matakana Island, shoreline recovery teams are cleaning up beads and some timber from the sand dunes above the high tide mark. 
• Shoreline surveys and clean-up have also continued on Papamoa and Pukehina beaches.
• The Braemar distressed cargo specialists say that over the past week an additional 100 tonnes of aluminium ingots have been landed ashore. This takes the total amount of aluminium recovered to 309 tonnes. 
• Braemar NZ Operations Manager Neil Lloyd says that a comprehensive sonar sweep of the seabed aimed at locating containers and large debris items has been completed. The team is now moving into phase two of the operation, where targets are identified to confirm whether they’ve come from Rena. Details will be made available at the completion of this project. 
• The number of containers recovered by the salvors and landed ashore by Braemar stands at 778.
• Meanwhile, Braemar plans to investigate this weekend reports of a large object offshore from Waihi Beach. The recovery team is continuing to respond to sporadic reports of debris coming ashore, the latest from Hahei on the Coromandel.

Oil Spill Response

• Members of the public are encouraged to keep reporting any sightings of oil to the oil spill response hotline on 0800 OIL SPILL (0800 645 774).
• 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.

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Info on MNZ's use of the dispersant Corexit 9500

 

Rena by the numbers

Please note: some numbers are estimates and many of these numbers are subject to change

At the height of the response approximately 600–800 people were involved in the oil spill response team,** including members of the Incident Command Centre (ICC) and people in the field undertaking beach clean-up and wildlife response.

• Approximately 15 staff managing the overall response from the ICC
• 60 oil spill responders working in the field.
• Members of the National Oiled Wildlife Response Team are available to receive affected wildlife at Massey University, while contingency plans are in place to escalate the wildlife response if required.
• Department of Conservation personnel are still responding to oiled wildlife calls through 0800 333 771.
• Technical advice and personnel has been provided from New Zealand, Australia, the UK, US, Netherlands and Singapore, with offers of assistance and equipment and under international agreements
• 25 crew on board Rena at time of grounding
• 150 member salvage team from the appointed salvage company Svitzer with local support teams and colleagues providing round-the-clock technical advice and analysis from Australia, Singapore and the Netherlands

Salvage – containers

• 1,368 containers on board Rena at time of grounding
• 547 containers stored above deck at the time of grounding
• 821 containers stored below deck at time of grounding
• 121 containers with perishable foodstuffs
• 32 containers with dangerous goods
• Approx 250 containers remain below decks on the severed bulk-head (bow section)
• Unable to confirm how many containers remain on board sunken Rena stern section
• Estimated 98 containers (total) lost overboard before 8 January 2012
• Estimated 150 containers lost overboard on 8 January 2012
• A further 8 containers confirmed lost overboard during the weather event on 21 March 2012
• An estimated 11 containers lost overboard during the weather event on 3 April 2012
• A total of 778 containers have been received ashore since container recovery began on November 16. This total includes those removed from Rena by salvors and those collected from the water and beaches by Braemar Howells container recovery teams.

Beach clean up

• 1,041 tonnes of waste collected
• A total of 8,061 volunteers are registered in the volunteer database
• 12 active groups in Adopt-A-Beach programme

Salvage – oil recovery

• Over 1,300 tonnes of oil recovered through fuel recovery operations on board Rena.
• 1,712 tonnes of oil on board Rena when it grounded
• Around 350 tonnes of oil released from Rena fuel tanks between 5–11 October

Wildlife

• A total of 409 birds were being cared for in the Te Maunga wildlife facility at the height of the response, including 345 little blue penguins, 60 New Zealand dotterel and 4 pied shags. The facility has now been removed and birds are being cared for at Massey University
• 120 rare New Zealand dotterels in Bay of Plenty area – 60 pre-emptively caught and cared for at the wildlife facility; 1,700 rare New Zealand dotterels in existence
• 2,410 dead birds collected, of which 1448 were oiled

Equipment

• 1 Squirrel helicopter for winching people on and off Rena
• 1 C172 aircraft used for aerial observation flight
• 1 MNZ-owned oil recovery vessel, Kuaka from Auckland (on standby)
• 1 MNZ-owned oil recovery vessel Tukuperu from Picton (on standby)
• 1 anchor-handling tug, Go Canopus, on site for container recovery, receiving oil and capable of maintaining station in poor weather
• 1 landing craft vessel Brandy Wine
• 1 barge Sea Tow 60
• 1 crane barge Smit Borneo, used for removing containers from Rena
• 1 Port of Auckland tug Maui
• 1 Auckland barge Pohunui
• 1 Bell 214 helicopter flying equipment to Rena, carrying 3 tonnes at a time (on standby)
• 3 local tugs mobilised to intercept drifting containers and debris
• 600 metres of ocean-going booms from across New Zealand (ready to be deployed)
• Salvage equipment brought by Svitzer includes air compressors, power generators, chains, shackles, ropes, tools and oil removal equipment

Equipment used during the response that has subsequently been stood down:

• 1 double-hulled tanker Awanuia, capable of receiving oil from Rena
• 1 tug Swiber Torunn
• 1 crane ship Pancaldo
• 1 Port of Auckland tug Waka Kume
• 3 mussel barges, Ocean Phoenix, Northern Quest and Union Beach, used for on-water oil recovery operations
• 4 NZDF Navy inshore patrol vessels, Rotoiti, Hawea, Taupo, and Pukaki
• 1 NZDF Navy fuel tanker Endeavour
• NZDF light operational vehicles
• NZDF Seasprite helicopter
• 5 NZDF Unimogs
• NZDF literal warfare support group personnel and assets, conducting surveys of shipping lanes

At the height of the response there were

• between 200–300 personnel managing the response from the incident command centre. These included people from MNZ, the National Response Team, regional and local councils, Massey University, the Department of Conservation, the University of Waikato, WWF and New Zealand Fire Service. This figure also includes trained oil spill responders leading volunteers and other personnel in the field.
• around 150 NZDF personnel, from the Air Force, Navy and Army, with another 150 on short notice to respond as needed
• around 150 Department of Conservation personnel providing field support to the wildlife response, conducting field surveys, collecting live and dead oiled wildlife, and providing logistical support, with others available at short notice
• around 100 people working in the wildlife response team, including National Oiled Wildlife Response Team personnel, veterinarians, ornithologists and expert responders with experience in the capture and treatment of oiled birds.

 

**Includes staff from MNZ, the National Response Team, regional and local councils, Massey University, the Department of Conservation, Forest and Bird, University of Waikato, WWF and New Zealand Fire Service.

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