Rough weather and strong swells around the Astrolabe Reef have caused oil previously trapped under Rena to leak. The ship suffered significant damage to its hull when it grounded on the reef, and Maritime New Zealand says since then oil has intermittently leaked from the duct keel – a system of pipes along the bottom of the ship. National On Scene Commander Mick Courtnell said salvors working on Rena yesterday…

  It has been a productive day for salvors removing containers from the Rena after they managed to get another 15 empty shipping containers off This has brought the total or removed containers since yesterday to 18. But Maritime New Zealand is warning that the extraction has only been this fast as the containers are empty and on the deck, while weather conditions have been calm. Progress is likely to…

The first of more than 1200 shipping containers have been removed from the stricken cargo ship Rena, six weeks after it ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef off the coast of Tauranga. Three containers were lifted off onto the crane barge Sea Tow 60 today, the start of a process that is expected to take several months to complete. Sea Tow 60 can remove five to six containers a day,…

The pumping of oil from the Rena has been completed, Prime Minister John Key confirmed today. Mr Key said the Awanui, which was collecting the oil, was expected to leave the grounded ship this afternoon. It had pumped about 1350 tonnes in total and the remaining oil was a small amount that would have to be mopped up. “This is an important milestone. It’s been a very successful operation and…

News from Maritime NZ Oil is now being continuously pumped at a stable rate from the submerged number 5 starboard fuel oil tank on the grounded container ship Rena. Pumping began at 6pm last night. As at 3pm today, around 54 tonnes of heavy fuel oil from the tank had been transferred to the adjacent oil tanker Awanuia. This leaves around 300 tonnes of oil still to be pumped off…

Salvors are making good progress pumping oil from the final tank on grounded container ship Rena after numerous delays, says Maritime New Zealand. They had hoped to begin pumping from the submerged number 5 starboard tank on Tuesday night, but delays caused by air bubbles meant work didn’t begin until Wednesday, salvage unit manager Arthur Jobard said. About 54 tonnes of heavy fuel oil from the number 5 tank has…

Salvors are in the final stages of preparing to begin pumping heavy fuel oil from the submerged number 5 starboard wing tank, Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) said. Salvage Unit Manager Kenny Crawford said 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. He said it was…

Progress continues in clearing oil from the Rena and almost 900 tonnes have been removed from the container ship. Two of the five fuel tanks on the grounded vessel are now empty and pumping is continuing from tanks in the engine room. As well as emptying almost all of the 770 tonnes from the port number five tank, the 25-tonne port service tank had been emptied and more than half…

For many it would seem overwhelming, but wildlife pathologist Stuart Hunter is taking things one animal at a time. Mr Hunter, from Massey University, is carrying out autopsies on the more than 1300 dead animals recovered from the Rena oil spill near Tauranga. Each death and its cause has been noted by Mr Hunter, who is the sole pathologist on site. The scale of the disaster is hard to comprehend…