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The New Zealand Defence Force has announced the second stage of fuel and other pollutants removal from sunken hydrographic ship HMNZS Manawanui off Samoa.
HMNZS Manawanui, which originally sank after striking a reef south of Upolu in October last year, has required ongoing efforts from the NZDF to remove fuel, material and residual oil leakage.
All 75 people aboard were successfully rescued after the accident and an interim court of inquiry report, released last year, detailed that human error was responsible for the grounding and sinking.
The NZDF has since contracted salvors' tug and barge under Operation Resolution to remove fuel and other pollutants from HMNZS Manawanui
“The salvors have recovered a significant amount of liquid, a mix of fuel and other pollutants along with seawater, which has been pumped from the tanks in the ship up into tanktainers on the barge,” according to NZDF Senior National Representative for Operation Resolution, Commodore Andrew Brown.
“At this stage we can’t confirm the exact amount of fuel and other pollutants removed until all the liquid recovered from the ship has been processed.
“The fuel and other pollutants have been mixed with sea water during the extraction process and possibly with other contaminants as a result of the damage sustained during the grounding and sinking.”
The second cycle in the removal of fuel and other is well underway, with the salvors making excellent progress in favourable weather conditions – according to the NZDF. Cycle one tanktainers have been offloaded in Apia and cycle two tanktainers are on the barge, which is securely moored over Manawanui on the south west coast of Upolu.
“The salvors have pumped the fuel and other pollutants from the larger and more accessible tanks. Now they are preparing and pumping liquids from harder to reach areas,” according to Commodore Brown.
“This is a complex and technical process. Manawanui is lying around 35 metres deep on its side, adding to the complexity.
“The salvors continually monitor the weather and sea state. Earlier this month due to deteriorating weather to the salvors towed the barge from the south west coast back to Apia a little earlier.
“As soon as weather allowed, they offloaded tanktainers with recovered fuel and other pollutants at the Port of Apia, picking up empty ones before returning and securely mooring the barge back over Manawanui to commence the second cycle."
Commodore Brown said it wasn’t possible to provide an exact timeline of when the fuel recovery operation would be completed, as it was dependent on factors such as weather and sea conditions.
“It’s extremely important we do a careful and thorough job. The process will take time and New Zealand is absolutely committed to doing the right thing,” he said.
