New Zealand: New Maritime Director Defends Rena Response

Keith Manch, who officially took over as director from Catherine Taylor on December 5, has expressed his disagreement with reports according to which the agency’s response to the Rena disaster was too slow.

According to the documents provided by the Minister of Transport under the Official Information Act, the agency needed four days to make a detailed plan of recovery after the Rena ran aground on October 5.

The Rena grounding has been recorded as the worst environmental maritime disaster in New Zealand history.

However, the new Maritime New Zealand chief said the reports of indecision were inaccurate.

Even though the plan may not have been prepared in writing in those first four days, the agency was working on finding the solution and the team was developing the strategy, he added.

Heavy swells and high wind prevented recovery on the Rena on Sunday.

Even though container removal operations were postponed, recoverers focused on installing more patches in the corridors of the wreck to further improve buoyancy.

However, 15 containers were removed by the crane barge Smit Borneo on Friday and another 13 removed on Saturday.

So far 195 containers have been removed from the wreck.

Beach cleaning also took place at Shark Alley yesterday, where some small amounts of oil have been seen. The team will work on the beach after every high tide.

After small amounts of oil have been spotted, the beach cleaning was undertaken at Shark Alley yesterday. Following every high tide, the team will engage in work.

[mappress]

World Maritime News Staff, December 13, 2011; Image: Maritime NZ