Crane Problem Halts Rena Ops

in General by Jon C — December 14, 2011 at 5:43 pm | 0 comments

Work on removing containers from the Rena is on hold because of a problem with the newly brought in cargo crane Smit Borneo.

Salvors have spent the last few days working on a modification to the crane.

Salvors are also working on the installation of large steel patches in Rena’s internal corridors, to improve buoyancy. So far, three of the patches, weighing around 700kg each, have been installed and another three close to completion of installation.

Dive teams are continuing inspection work around the hul . Dive teams yesterday identified slight changes in the buckling in the starboard side. However, the motion sensors attached to the hull detect no significant change in movement. The wreck remains in a fragile state.

The weather at the Astrolabe Reef this morning was fair, with light winds and a sea swell of about 2m. The winds are increasing to around 20 knots, and continue increasing until they peak on Thursday around 30 knots with a 4m swell. The weather is forecast to settle after Saturday.

The Braemar Howells container recovery team at Te Kaha,East Cape yesterday found part of an oiled refrigerated container which has been brought back to Tauranga. No container recovery operations were done at Mōtītī Islandyesterday due to fog, but that area will be checked today.

Oil spill response observation teams this morning confirmed a rainbow sheen stretching up to 5km from the vessel, about 30m wide. There are some darker patches around the vessel.

Shoreline Clean-up Assessment Teams werecovering from Pāpāmoa back to Mt Maunganui today looking for any fresh oil. Leisure Island and Mauāo were also be covered.

Clean-up operations are continuing around Mauāo and Matakana. High priority areas have been cleaned and work is moving to secondary areas. Manual work will be done at Mauāo, along with warm water washing of the rocks and searches for tar balls on the beach.

Oiled wildlife teams conducted night operations to check on penguins released around Mauāo to ensure they are not being re-oiled. The teams found no oiled penguins last night.

A carpet was laid over oiled areas to protect penguins coming in last night – this will be done the next couple of nights as well.

A wildlife team will go to Mōtītī Island tomorrow to assess the penguin habitats there. There will be a penguin release tomorrow at 8am at Mount Maunganui main beach.

 

 

 

 

Tags: Oil spill Rena