Rena update #233 - A Productive Week
Rena update #233
Salvage (Resolve Marine)
•
The past seven days has been highly productive for Resolve
Salvage & Fire - wreck reduction has progressed through the
removal of 85 individual pieces of steel, with the total
steel weight removed now 300 tonnes. The reduction has
mainly occurred in the Forecastle Deck area.
•
Joseph Farrell III, Resolve’s Naval Architect who manages
all day-to-day operations on board the Rena, says
“progress is particularly encouraging considering the
challenging weather that has prevented work for one and a
half full days over the past week”.
• During
the week Maritime New Zealand officials have visited the
wreck to see how work is progressing and review safety
arrangements.
• Joseph Farrell III says:
“Resolve’s success in this project is dependent upon the
support of many local NZ partners. Managing the supply of
huge quantities of gas to execute the steel burning
operations is a real challenge. However, our partners the
BOC Group in Tauranga and Auckland have performed
exceptionally, providing technicians to visit the
Rena and instigating technological solutions to
assist cutting operations.”
Braemar Howells/Unimar
Update
Braemar Howells’ post-Rena
environmental clean-up endeavours continue on land and
at sea.
• The Braemar Howells/Unimar team and
Rena owners and insurers welcomed the arrival this week of a
new debris-recovery vessel. The Tasman Challenger
has been specifically modified for the debris collection
task and will be put to work next week, weather permitting.
The 30m vessel has been fitted with a crane and static
mooring equipment to be used in the recovery of debris from
the seabed around the Rena. This will include container
scrap and heavier cargo that has sunk to the ocean
floor.
• Debris clean-up continues on Matakana
Island in the Bay of Plenty, and in the Coromandel area.
During the month of August alone, 3.5 tonnes of debris –
primarily comprising small polymer beads – have been
collected from Coromandel beaches. Collection has been from
predominantly the area stretching between Hot Water Beach
and Opito Bay. While stretches of beach in the Coromandel
are clear of beads, there are pockets where concentrations
of beads are still being found.
Oil spill
response
• Bay of Plenty Regional
Council continues to oversee the Rena oil spill response.
While the Tier 2 response was today downgraded, the Regional
Council will continue to respond to reports of oil washing
up as part of its day to day business.
•
People are encouraged to report any sightings of oil to the
Bay of Plenty Regional Council Pollution Prevention Hotline
on 0800 884 883.
• The Regional Council also
continues to work with wreck removal and debris recovery
contractors to ensure the risk of further oil spills are
managed. Resolve Salvage & Fire has an oil spill contingency
plan in place and have response equipment and trained staff
at the wreck site. Braemar Howells has oil spill response
equipment on their vessel patrolling the 2 mile exclusion
zone.
www.maritimenz.govt.nz
To
report sightings of oil - 0800 OIL SPILL (0800 645 774)
To report sightings of oiled wildlife - 0800 333 771
To report sightings of containers or container debris -
0800 333 771