Salvage Update on Rena Wreck Removal

Salvors, Resolve Salvage & Fire report a highly productive past week.

The past seven days has been highly productive for Resolve Salvage & Fire - wreck reduction has progressed through the removal of 85 individual pieces of steel, with the total steel weight removed now 300 tonnes. The reduction has mainly occurred in the forecastle deck area.

Joseph Farrell III, Resolve’s Naval Architect who manages all day-to-day operations on board the Rena, says “progress is particularly encouraging considering the challenging weather that has prevented work for one and a half full days over the past week”.

Maritime New Zealand officials have visited the wreck to see how work is progressing and review safety arrangements.

Mr Farrell continues: “Resolve’s success in this project is dependent upon the support of many local NZ partners. Managing the supply of huge quantities of gas to execute the steel burning operations is a real challenge. However, our partners the BOC Group in Tauranga and Auckland have performed exceptionally, providing technicians to visit the Rena and instigating technological solutions to assist cutting operations.”

Meanwhile Braemar Howells’ post-Rena environmental clean-up endeavours continue on land and at sea. The Braemar Howells/Unimar team and Rena owners and insurers welcome the arrival of a new debris-recovery vessel, Tasman Challenger has been specifically modified for the debris collection task and will be put to work next week, weather permitting. This 30m vessel has been fitted with a crane and static mooring equipment to be used in the recovery of debris from the seabed around the Rena.