Subscribe to RSSRena: Good Progress - & Latest Photos
Good progress today in the Rena salvage operation.
- Salvors have completed pumping all the used lubricating oil off the Rena
- They’re in the final stages of preparing to begin pumping heavy fuel oil from the submerged number 5 starboard wing tank - the last 350 tonnes onboard.
- Work to remove containers from the Rena will not begin until all the oil has been removed, but the container barge ST60 will start trials in the Bay of Plenty this week.
- Braemar Howells continues to carry out sonar searches of the seabed to locate containers lost overboard from the Rena during the storm three weeks ago
Maritime New Zealand Salvage Unit Manager Kenny Crawford says that the salvors had finished filling the tank with seawater to lift oil to the top but still had four lengths of hose to place and a 90kg pump to manhandle into position.
They have begun pumping clean lubricating oil directly into the tug Go Canopus, moored alongside.
Preparations for pumping off the remaining heavy fuel include placing more than 150m of hose weighing 3 tonnes, two large pumps and up to 40m of ladders, which are being used to create a smooth, straight path for the oil as shown below.
RENA: Preparations for oil pumping tonight | LOC
And salvors have attached 35 underwater locator beacons to the most vulnerable containers on board the Rena so they can be located and recovered, should they be lost overboard.
A further 200 of the transponders are on their way to Tauranga from the USA.
RENA: Locater beacons called "pingers" attached to containers in precarious positions | LOC
National On Scene Commander Rob Service said that operations to clean up areas of oiled beach were continuing with 50 people working around the base of Mount Maunganui today.
They included NZ Defence Force personnel, trained oil spill responders from around New Zealand and a contingent of trained personnel from Australia. Thirty contractors were cleaning beaches between Harrison’s Cut and Papamoa today, while a total of 80 volunteers took part in separate clean-up events at Papamoa and Maketu.
Two hand-operated sets of beach grooming equipment are in now use, with trials of a different set of equipment beginning today, Mr Service said.
Five shoreline assessment teams were working between Mount Maunganuiand Maketu, with another on Matakana Island. Oiled wildlife response teams will be patrolling Mount Maunganui tonight, looking for oiled birds.
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