A breakdown of costs to government agencies, published by the Treasury this week, showed Maritime New Zealand bore the brunt of the financial fallout from the MV Rena's grounding and subsequent oil spill off the Tauranga coast on October 5, 2011.
The New Zealand Defence Force, which deployed hundreds of army personnel to help clean the beaches as well as four navy vessels and a Seasprite helicopter, spent $7.2 million, the second-highest figure.
There were also sums of $907,000 from the Department of Conservation, $803,000 from the Ministry for the Environment, and $490,000 from the Ministry of Transport.
Ripples also reached smaller agencies including the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, spending $3000, and the State Services Commission, $1000.
In all, agencies spent nearly $46.9 million - much of it in the months after the grounding.
At the height of the response, approximately 600 to 800 people were working in the oil spill response team.
After negotiations with the shipowners, the Government secured $27.6 million in compensation and to restock the pollution fund, with the possibility of a further $10.6 million if a proposed resource consent application to leave most of the wreck on the Astrolabe Reef is granted.
But Green MP Gareth Hughes said taxpayers were still set to get stung by at least $8.8 million - something he said would never happen if the Government had better prepared itself for the event of a major spill.
The Government was left embarrassed when it was revealed it had tarried on signing up to an international fund that would have raised the cap for claims against shipowners from $12 million to $29 million.
''I think most New Zealanders would expect that when a company causes an oil spill, they will pick up the tab,'' Mr Hughes said this week.
''New Zealand wasn't prepared, and the taxpayers had to pick up the bill.''
Maritime New Zealand had since proposed raising an oil pollution levy on operators to increase the fund's annual base revenue from just over $3 million to $4.5 million, while a further $3 million would be drawn over three years to buy more response equipment and make improvements.
The levy-funded Oil Pollution Fund held about $12 million a decade ago, but had fallen to $4 million before the Rena spilled 350 tonnes of heavy fuel oil into the ocean.
Maritime NZ spokesman Steve Rendle said the disaster was ''obviously going to cost a lot of money''.
Toting up
Maritime New Zealand $36,834,000
New Zealand Defence Force $7,296,000
Department of Conservation $907,000
Ministry for the Environment $803,000
Ministry of Transport $490,000
Ministry of Social Development $192,000
Ministry for Primary Industries $128,000
New Zealand Police $110,000
New Zealand Transport Agency $31,000
New Zealand Customs Service $27,000
Te Puni Kokiri $22,000
Environmental Protection Authority $18,000
Inland Revenue Department $12,000
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade $9000
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment $8000
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet $3000
State Services Commission $1000
TOTAL: $46,891,000
