Cargo Ship Aground in NZ

[Coolruns]

Anyone have any first hand knowledge of this catastrophe?

A darn mess. Looks like the ship will be torn apart before they recover it.

Link to MSN Article on Rena aground

[Aussie Sealady]

No first hand knowledge but there was a report that the charts were "Made in China" and unreliable. Not sure how true nor relevant that is. I suppose it will all come out in the enquiry.

They have to sort out the mess before even thinking about how it happened.

[capcook]

Damn mess for sure...how are they ever going to get all those containers off? I understand some contain toxic chemicals...geeze how could this happen to ship like that....

Feel bad for the folks in Oz...

[Aussie Sealady]

This ship is in NZ (New Zealand) not OZ (Australia). Close but not quite. We Aussies and Kiwis love each other but not enough to say we are the same place. At least not quite yet.

NZ and the bay where the boats are, (there are now 2 of them) is spectacular and pristine. No wonder the locals have come out to clean up even after being told by authorities not to.. See above re:toxic chemicals.

[Dame.n.Jess]

Man I hope we dont become a state of Australia, I'm a kiwi living in Sydney and as a culture NZ is miles apart from Australia when you get into it.



Anyway the ship
Rena update (update 14)
this has regular updates. I love how kiwis get stuck in when the Ship hits the fan.

The comment about the charts started from a maritime union having a go in the media so it may not be overly reliable info. The ship was stopped in Australia for safety concerns and when it arrived in Gore (NZ) that list of items were checked and apparently the ship was cleared. The Captain and the first mate have both been arrested, Captain has been charged, im not sure about the first mate. Apparently it was the captains birthday so I suspect the authorities will check for Alcohol. the ship is owned by a Greek company and registered in liberia so getting actual compensation might be a lenghty affair. Also the insurance cover on the ship is capped so anything over and above that limit will need to be paid for by the government.

Damien

[pauliebear]

Originally Posted by Aussie Sealady

This ship is in NZ (New Zealand) not OZ (Australia). Close but not quite. We Aussies and Kiwis love each other but not enough to say we are the same place. At least not quite yet.

NZ and the bay where the boats are, (there are now 2 of them) is spectacular and pristine. No wonder the locals have come out to clean up even after being told by authorities not to.. See above re:toxic chemicals.

I Have dived on astro reef a few times and it is pristine and full of crayfish that wont be there now
NZ is a little Island off OZ that will prob let loose a hanging mob on the captain, its very frustrating that there is so much politics involved slowing the clean up down

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by Coolruns

Anyone have any first hand knowledge of this catastrophe?

A darn mess. Looks like the ship will be torn apart before they recover it.

Link to MSN Article on Rena aground

This thread was started earlier today with lots of info by deckofficer.

>>> http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...tml#post795035

[pauliebear]

check out this footage Beaches Closed Off As Crisis Intensifies

[delmarrey]

I can't believe these people are working on the beaches without respirators. The Exxon/Valdez and BP workers/people got sick and some permanently. >>> Oil Spill Clean-Up Workers Getting Sick | Gina Solomon's Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC

[barnakiel]

Yep. They say most of the 70 containers in the water are empty but hell I trust them.

More and more garbage in the oceans. The spill no good news either.

Cheap flag, poor seamanship, perhaps. Perhaps just a weird turn of the stream. It is all tidal there, you go up river, no place for error, no place to go slow either.

b.

[Pato]

It's been updated to 88 containers 1 containing hazardous material apparently not leaking though

[delmarrey]

I'm surprised that the whole worlds shorelines aren't contaminated after all the sinking of battleships and merchant ships during WWII. I'm sure some are still leaking out black oil or soon will from rusting through fuel holds.

The USS Arizona is still bleeding in Honolulu after 70 years.

[Knowazark]

I can't believe these people are working on the beaches without respirators. The Exxon/Valdez and BP workers/people got sick and some permanently.

Well, its not because they haven't been warned. There are plenty of warnings out there and continuing to go out about the potential toxicity and health risks of coming into contact with this stuff.

I don't think comparing it to the Exxon Valdez is terribly valid though. This stuff is heavy fuel oil ... its really thick and tarry and forms clumps. One of the biggest logistical problems for the crews trying to get the fuel off the ship is that it needs to be heated before it will flow. The Exxon situation was a very liquid crude oil that flowed all over the place as a film. Slightly different.

Don't get me wrong, its still pretty damn bad, but just not quite as bad as the Exxon Valdez situation.

One of the more senior political critters here decided to cash in on the whole thing by turning up on the beach in his suit and tie to "help" clean up volunteers. He stayed long enough to tweet that he was helping the clean up teams and that the situation was terrible and would never have happened if he'd been in government, scooped up 2 scoopfuls of sand and had his photo taken. He then jumped into a taxpayer funded car and buggered off. They can be a classy lot these political critters.

[Knowazark]

Situation as at 13 October.

Yellow dots are containers lost off the ship. Oil spread has been extensive but shoreline contamination has not been particularly intensive in most places.

[SabreKai]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

I'm surprised that the whole worlds shorelines aren't contaminated after all the sinking of battleships and merchant ships during WWII. I'm sure some are still leaking out black oil or soon will from rusting through fuel holds.

The USS Arizona is still bleeding in Honolulu after 70 years.

the US Park service is getting scared about her. At least they can cofferdam around her, the water is pretty shallow and they can then get the oil up easily.

I did a science fair project on deep sea salvage of the WWII ships when I was a kid back in 1968, and at the time they figured there were some 600 of them on the US continental shelf, all slowly corroding and leaking. I suspect the oil leaks out gradually, but if one tank collapsed at once, there would be a decent sized slick. I suppose even if that happened, it would depend on wind and current whether it ever reached shore. Look at Truk Lagoon. Huge number of ships sunk there, all leaking but the oil comes up in dribs n drabs, and causes no real effect. In Truk the oil is still very fluid, the water temp helps. Atlantic oil at 250-600 feet is pretty thick but once you fall off the shelf and go down thousands, its like trying to pump treacle. Super cold, very viscous.