Battered and buffeted by high winds and big seas late last week, MV Rena, wrecked on the Astrolabe Reef, off the Bay of Plenty, finally split in two.
This week, the stern section began a slide into the deep, but on Tuesday afternoon, remained listing on the rocks, about 75% under water.
Three months after the container ship slammed into the reef, the vessel began to discharge a fresh cargo of containers, debris and oil.
Over the weekend, salvage sources indicated that between 200 and 300 containers had been lost into the sea, along with extensive timber and miscellaneous packages. By Sunday, numerous of these had begun washing up along the beaches as far as Waihi, 60km to the north, disgorging hundreds of bags of milk powder in 20kg bags.
Oil had begun to slick on the surface of the waters around the Rena wreck and clean-up teams were on the alert. Thus have the consequences of the Rena wreck begun to enter a new phase.
While it might be argued that the coast and offshore fisheries have been spared the sort of full-scale disaster that might have ensued had the ship been holed more extensively and sunk, there is plenty of scope for concern at what might yet be to come.
Even as it is, containers adrift in shipping lanes pose a significant risk to all craft, and on Tuesday the Bay of Plenty Regional Harbourmaster extended the exclusion zones for all shipping. He directed that all vessels must remain at least 200m clear of all containers from Rena and from any vessel working on the salvage operation.
These temporary zones are in addition to a prohibition of unauthorised vessels from an area of sea within three nautical miles of the Astrolabe Reef and any part of Rena.
While this may seem excessive, the risk to craft of all sizes from semi-submerged containers and other debris could be considerable; and salvage vessels must be free to carry out their operations within the area without interference or distraction.
As the containers from the hull of the submerging ship drift and float in the tides off the coast of Tauranga, there may also be concerns for the safety and viability of ships re-routed to the Bay of Plenty harbour from Ports of Auckland, disabled because of a long-running labour dispute.
Should neither of these situations be addressed to achieve positive outcomes in the next short while, economic disruption could begin to mount, a consequence the country could do without.
While a proportion of the lost containers are floating and drifting on the waves, others are believed to have sunk. This may come as a relief to those charged with reducing danger to shipping lanes and shore contamination, but not to those more concerned with the impact on marine life in the region.
A number of containers from Rena thought likely to have sunk to the sea bed are known to have been loaded with cryolite, a toxic by-product of the aluminium smelting process.
Although experts have discounted the risk of this potential contaminant given its low solubility in water, it is indicative of other potential toxic cargo aboard the disintegrating ship.
Certainly, the continued break-up is likely to spill more oil on to the beaches -about 10 tonnes of oil has escaped from the ship since Saturday - requiring major clean-up efforts and potentially some danger to wildlife.
For holiday makers in the region, this could prove the last straw with the persistent wet weather already having put a dampener on their holiday season. This, in turn, may well have considerable economic impact on an area in need of every boost it can get as people head for drier pastures.
While there may be temptation to throw political brickbats around over the stranding and the subsequent handling of the disaster, this is not an issue well-suited to political positioning.
The national image - 100% Pure - and the national interest require that it is dealt with as expeditiously as is possible through bipartisan measures; and also that the necessary maritime and disaster recovery legislation exists to minimise the chances of any future similar catastrophe.
