Here at Voyager Maritime Museum we have over 180 volunteers who provide their services and talents during their free time. Volunteers help bring our Museum to life by running guided tours, operating all of our heritage vessels, undertaking maintenance on vessels both on and off the water and assisting in the Museum's library.
Many of these generous people have full time jobs whilst also volunteering at Voyager and many have amazing experiences to share with us. One such story is from Captain John Briand, who at Voyager is a volunteer Master aboard Ted Ashby, the Museum's harbour sailing vessel. We'd like to thank John for sharing his recent experience of working to salvage the reef-striken container ship RENA.
October 5th 2011 will go down as a dark day in New Zealand’s maritime history. History was made at 2.20am, when the Container vessel ‘RENA’ struck the Astrolabe Reef just 12 miles from her destination. If all had gone to plan, by 3.00am, she would have picked up her pilot and headed into Tauranga to exchange containers before continuing her voyage. She struck the reef at 17.5 knots (32.6kph) bringing some 42,000 tonnes of ship and cargo to a complete stop in just over 100 metres. Where she sits now is illustrated below.
Many of these generous people have full time jobs whilst also volunteering at Voyager and many have amazing experiences to share with us. One such story is from Captain John Briand, who at Voyager is a volunteer Master aboard Ted Ashby, the Museum's harbour sailing vessel. We'd like to thank John for sharing his recent experience of working to salvage the reef-striken container ship RENA.
October 5th 2011 will go down as a dark day in New Zealand’s maritime history. History was made at 2.20am, when the Container vessel ‘RENA’ struck the Astrolabe Reef just 12 miles from her destination. If all had gone to plan, by 3.00am, she would have picked up her pilot and headed into Tauranga to exchange containers before continuing her voyage. She struck the reef at 17.5 knots (32.6kph) bringing some 42,000 tonnes of ship and cargo to a complete stop in just over 100 metres. Where she sits now is illustrated below.
As you can see, nearly two thirds of the vessel is hanging over the edge of the mount, subjected to the twice daily rise and fall of the three metre tides, plus gale events giving rise to five metre swells. It is amazing that at the time of writing, the vessel is still holding together.
Despite everything, and the rhetoric that was spouted each day decrying this and that, we should be truly thankful that to date, there has been no loss of life and only one person injured. This was one of the salvors.
These guys were truly the heroes of the operation that saw the removal of some 1200 cubic metres of heavy fuel oil. Their efforts will continue for some time yet, with the transfer of the containers expected to take months. As the photograph taken from the bridge of the bunker tanker ‘AWANUIA’ shows, the starboard (right) side of the RENA is and remains completely submerged.
The last 360 tonnes of fuel oil were contained in a tank below the water. To access this tank, divers have had to construct watertight bulkheads (walls) in passage ways giving access to the tank. This then permitted them to pump the water from the space over the fuel oil tank, and remove a small lid at the top of the tank. Once this was achieved, they were able to lower a pump into the tank. To assist in removing the last of the oil, the salvors resorted to pumping water into the tank, floating the oil to the upper section of the tank. In the photograph above, you can see the floating hose line through which some 1400 cubic metres of oil and seawater has been transferred. Lubricating and diesel oil plus other waste has also passed through this line into the AWANUIA’s slop tank.
In the photograph titled ‘All go on the RENA’, you can see the foredeck of the bunker tanker ‘AWANUIA’, the rig supply vessel ‘GO CANOPUS’, and the salver’s helicopter hovering over the stricken vessel ‘RENA’. If the stern of the ‘RENA’ does come detached, then the ‘GO CANOPUS’ will try to tow the section to shallow water before it sinks.
All go on the RENA
For ‘AWANUIA’, the next stage was for her to proceed to Marsden Point where she discharged all the entrained water and fuel oil to shore tanks. The fuel oil will be reprocessed, and find its way back onboard another ship as bunker fuel.
‘AWANUIA’ then loaded clean fuel oil on the 18th November and resumed her normal duties delivering gas oil and fuel oil to the many passenger and container ships visiting Auckland over the busy summer months. So if you see a smart looking blue vessel gracing our waterfront, give her some thought to her role in preventing this disaster becoming even bigger. She has spent nearly eight weeks hanging off those mooring lines astern of ‘RENA” patiently loading at rates as low as 2.5 tonnes per hour.
This photo shows the single line through which all the oil has been transferred. It is designed as a ‘quick break’ unit, and allows instant disconnection, even if the pump is still running.
You will note that I refer to ‘AWANUIA’ as a bunker tanker, not a bunker barge. There is a difference, and we, the Managers at PB Sea-Tow Ltd, are proud of that difference as she is a fully fledged ship in every way; in her classification, her functionality and her looks.
Written by Captain John P Briand. Deputy DPA for AWANUIA. 07/12/11
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