Subscribe to RSSHow Rena Looks - 650 Tonnes Left
The salvage team working on the grounded vessel Rena has removed 737 tonnes of fuel from the ship.
Maritime New Zealand says the figure is accurate to 12pm today and leaves around 650 tonnes of fuel on the vessel, distributed between the submerged starboard number 5 tank and three tanks in the engine room.
This is how the Rena looks today:
RENA: How it looks today
MNZ Salvage Unit Manager Bruce Anderson said pumping had temporarily stopped from the port number 5 tank this afternoon as salvors move the pump deeper into the tank.
“Most of the oil has been removed from that tank, so the fuel transfer rate out of there is slowing down,” Mr Anderson said.
The salvage team had yesterday begun pumping fuel from the engine room tanks into the port number 5 tank but this had proved ineffective, Mr Anderson said.
Salvors were now working on a pumping system to take the fuel through a 4inch (about 10cm) hose and directly into the anchor-handling tug Go Canopus.
The tug was alongside Rena and work was underway to connect the pumping system.
A new oil hose on board the Go Canopus can enable direct pumping from the settling tanks and service tank.
RENA: New oil hose being prepared for pumping on board Go Canopus | MNZ
A dive team was continuing to work on establishing a fuel transfer system for the number 5 starboard tank.
“This is really challenging as the tank is underwater and the team needs to create a water-tight space to work from,” Mr Anderson said.
It was too early to put a timeframe on when the salvors would be able to start removing fuel from that tank.
Tanks on board the bollard pull tug Go Canopus, heading to Rena | MNZ
National On Scene Commander Nick Quinn said in the three weeks since Rena grounded there had been a huge amount of work completed by members of the oil spill response team and the more than 6,700 volunteers who had put their hands up to help.
Mr Quinn said resurfacing oil had been identified by shoreline clean-up assessment teams from Papamoa to Maketu Spit today. Teams had also identified fresh light oiling aroundMount Maunganui and Leisure Island.
“Our focus for the next couple of days will be to get clean-up crews down there cleaning that oil.
“We are expecting around 200 volunteers doing clean-ups at the Mount Maunganui main beach and Papamoa tomorrow.
“We do have to keep cleaning and re-cleaning until we get as much oil out of the environment as possible,” Mr Quinn said.
Mr Quinn said about 120 Telecom workers joined the clean-up operation today and had done a great job.
“The feedback I’m getting from the team leaders who led these Telecom crews was that they did a fantastic job. It’s hugely appreciated to see the business community getting behind the response.”
4 Comments
Wow, Thanks Jon. How many tonnes are left now(in the whole ship)?
@Andy - 650 tonnes
Why dont they take the containers, that look like they will fall over, off the ship?
Don’t worry about the boxes. Less priority compared to the oil. Due to lack of space around the Rena. One can’t do both at the same time.
Btw, boxes stacked that high. Most likely the top 4 boxes or so will be empty. Heavy boxes usually stowed low.
Oh look the tug has tanks on her stern where the fuel is pumped into from the rena, i suggested this the second day of the grounding but key and joyce said it was too complicated.