Fuel oil from grounded Rena washes ashore, sparking high-level eco-anger Tuesday, 11.Oct.2011, 22:29 (GMT+3) Worsening weather is causing the oil slick from the stricken 3,300-TEU
Rena to wash ashore in New Zealand's North Island, sparking rising
complaints about its affect on the environment.
Worsening weather is causing the oil slick from the stricken 3,300-TEU
Rena to wash ashore in New Zealand's North Island, sparking rising
complaints about its affect on the environment.
There are also growing fears that ship could break-up where it ran
aground on a reef with 1,600 tonnes of fuel oil leaking into the sea and
2,100 TEU of cargo lost overboard.
Between 20 and 30 tonnes of fuel oil have so far gushed into New
Zealand's Bay of Plenty, reports London's Containerisation
International. Maritime New Zealand (MNZ), the state agency
co-ordinating salvage operations, has warned that shellfish caught in
the area should be avoided.
Several enquiries to assign blame have started with New Zealand Prime
Minister John Key saying "he wanted answers as to how the ship struck a
well known reef at 17 knots in calm waters".
The Liberian-flagged Rena, owned by Ciel Shipmanagement, affiliated to
Athens-based Costamare, is on charter for Geneva's Mediterranean
Shipping Co (MSC), the world's second largest container carrier, just
behind Maersk.
The ship is on MSC's Capricorn (Australia/New Zealand) service and was
sailing into Tauranga from Napier at the time of its grounding on
October 5.
MNZ has initiated an "oil spill contingency plan" and the salvage firm
Copenhagen-based Svitzer has been appointed to pump 1,500 tonnes of the
1,700 tonnes of fuel from the Rena. Earlier attempts failed.
MNZ has placed a one-kilometre exclusion zone around the ship and is prepared to clean the beaches if the ship comes asho
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