A container ship grounded on the Astrolabe reef, east of Tauranga, on Wednesday 5 October. It was carrying 1360 containers and had 1700 tonnes of heavy diesel oil on board.
The Government is doing everything it can to reduce the environmental impact of this situation.
So far about 350 tonnes of oil has leaked into the sea, some of which has reached Tauranga's beaches. Some containers have fallen overboard and there are large cracks in the ship which could cause it to sink.
Maritime New Zealand is leading a massive clean-up with around 500 people on the beach. There are six vessels patrolling the harbour picking up debris and there are two vessels preparing to use booms offshore should this be possible.
Three salvage experts were winched down to the Rena today. The barge Awanuia is putting new mooring arrangements in place to allow for the safer transfer of oil.
The salvage company Svitzer is responsible for collecting the containers in the water. The Police and Fire Service are helping recovering containers that have reached the shoreline. The oily waste is being collected by two approved waste companies.
The Government is putting every available resource into the clean-up and recovery efforts, and this will continue.
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