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 been transferred to the adjacent oil tanker Awanuia. Mr Jobard said this left about 300 tonnes of oil to be pumped off the ship.
"Getting to this point has been incredibly challenging for the salvors. They have worked tirelessly to start removing oil despite setbacks along the way, and this is a significant milestone for the entire operation,'' he said.
Salvors were using a hot tapping technique, which extracts oil without allowing the remainder to leak out.
Mr Jobard said the team was working to speed the pumping rate of three tonnes an hour, by installing a fourth hot tap and adding other pumps.
Once all the oil had been pumped off, weather permitting, container removal would begin, he said.
The container barge, Sea Tow 60, was ready for use and crane barge Smit Borneo was due to arrive from Singapore by early December.
The latter will be able to recover containers out of reach of the ST60. It also has accommodation on board which will allow salvors to remain on the barge, saving transfer time.
Meanwhile, onshore clean-up teams will be working at Mt Maunganui, Papamoa, Maketu and on Matakana, Motiti and Rabbit islands today (Friday).
Favourable weather conditions over the next few days should help salvage and cleanup operations.
MetService forecaster Larissa Marintchenko said swells of one and a half metres would rise to up to two and a half metres on Sunday, but would ease again on Monday. The weather will be mainly sunny over the weekend.
