Rena: Going, going, going
Rusted piece by rusted piece, the cargo ship that dealt New Zealand its worst maritime environmental disaster is vanishing below the surface of the ocean.
When the Herald flew over yesterday, all that remained of the MV Rena above the water was a handful of tiny, jagged steel islands jutting out of the blue.
Given 20 near- perfect working days, salvors will have finally whittled the Rena’s decapitated bow 1m beneath the water.
It marks the end of a dramatic transformation from the 236m vessel that collided with the Astrolabe Reef off the Tauranga coast early on October 5, 2011.
Just over a year and a half of salvage and natural deterioration has seen the Rena change from a listing cargo ship laden with 2100 containers, to a mangled structure ripped in two amid heavy seas, to little more than an exposed bow.
The bulk of the wreck remains underwater, its stern having slipped further down the reef.
About 1006 tonnes of steel have been stripped from the bow by US- based Resolve Salvage and Fire salvors, who have had to work right on or below the surf zone in the final stages. When weather and swell conditions stopped them working here, they worked to recover debris from the sea floor between the bow and stern sections.
From here, they removed 620 tonnes of debris, largely container- based scrap metal.
The latest project in the wider salvage operation involved removal of cargo and container debris in the ship’s No 4 hold, and to locate and assess the current state of two containers of beads originally located in one of its bays.
The cost of dealing with the Rena has now shot past $ 275 million and is set to become one of the most expensive maritime salvages in history.