Oil has leaked from cargo ship Rena for the first time in 11 days. Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) said there had been a small release of oil overnight, estimated to be between 5 and 10 tonnes.
The oil was logged from this morning's over-flight of the cargo vessel, MNZ said.
"It is unclear exactly where on the ship this has come from, but it is considered probable the seepage is a result of further leaking from the duct keel due to the low tide.''
Yesterday marked 11 days since any significant oil had leaked from the ship.
Four vessels were now being prepared to go to the site to conduct on-water recovery operations to gather the leaked oil.
The vessels will use offshore Ro booms, heavy duty booms that work in strong currents, to corral the oil.
Recovery teams will then use skimmers to remove oil from the water.
New Zealand Defence Force helicopters will hover overhead of the operations to provide aerial information to the recovery teams.
MNZ said planning teams were now using trajectory modelling to assess where the oil was likely to hear.
"At this point it is moving offshore, and it is not expected to reach any coastline for the next two days.''
An update on the modelling was expected later today, MNZ said.
