The Rena salvage has shifted its focus to the removal of containers after extracting nearly all the oil from the stricken cargo ship.
As the last dregs of oil are pumped off the ship, the salvage team is looking to remove 1349 shipping containers precariously balanced on board, sitting on the sea floor and in the Bay of Plenty.
The crane barge Sea Tow 60 is heading out from the Port of Tauranga to Rena today (Monday) to start the container removal process, said Maritime New Zealand (MNZ).
The crane ship can remove five to six containers a day which means it could take seven months for all of the containers to be removed.
Nineteen containers have been recovered from the ship, with 56 of the 88 that fell overboard still unaccounted for, said a Maritime New Zealand spokeswoman.
Once recovered, the containers will be decontaminated and then transported to the port if able to be reused or disposed of.
MNZ salvage unit manager Arthur Jobard said removing the bulk of the 358 tonnes of heavy fuel oil from the ship was a key milestone, signalling a shift in the operation.
"We are now in the second phase, with the salvors focusing on `stripping' the last of the accessible and pumpable oil from the ship. This can be done in parallel with the container removal.''
Tauranga mayor Stuart Crosby said the progress of the operation was "tremendous news'' for the region, he told radio New Zealand today.
"It's a significant relief and we're looking forward to the next stage of moving the containers,'' he said.
The coastal community was now focused on re-establishing its reputation as being "open for business'' following the clean-up efforts, he said.
Prime Minister John Key said it was an important milestone.
"It's been a very successful operation and the people of Tauranga will be happy that we haven't had the environmental disaster some predicted,'' he said.
Transport Minister Steven Joyce said it was "terrible'' that some 350 tonnes of oil had leaked into the sea from the duct keel and one ruptured tank, but the meticulous work of the salvors ensured no oil from the other fuel tanks was released.
He defended the speed at which the pumping operation began after the Rena ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef near Tauranga on October 5.
"While all of us would have liked to see pumping commence as soon as the Rena hit the reef, the reality is that the nature of the collision and the damage to the ship meant that it was always going to take some time before pumping could commence,'' he said.
"The initial grounding of the ship caused major damage to the ship's internal pumping system. It was a long, difficult process to construct various manual pumping systems to enable the safe pumping of fuel from the vessel.''
Shoreline clean-up activities are continuing, with operations underway at Mount Maunganui, Papamoa, Maketu and Rabbit Island today.
Most volunteers are having today and tomorrow off as well-earned rest days, although there will still be one volunteer clean-up event today, at Maketu.
