Rena consent hearing: no longer risk to environment, owner says

Monday, 7 September 2015

The owners of the cargo ship Rena say they have the backing of the community to leave the wreck on the Astrolabe Reef in the Bay of Plenty.

But at least one iwi in the region contests the wreck should be removed because it still poses a risk.

Daina Shipping Company has applied to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council for resource consent to leave the Rena on the reef and the first day of the hearing into the application was held in Mt Maunganui on Monday.

A packed Baypark Stadium on the first day of the Rena resource consent hearing in Mount Maunganui.

* Month-long hearing for Rena owners to have wreck left on Tauranga reef

* Pause of Rena salvage work allows ship 'owners to walk'

Konstantinos Zacharatos, the Greece-based director of Costamare Inc, parent company of Daina Shipping Company, said local body politicians, community and business groups and iwi supported the application.

'The application for resource consent before the tribunal is not simply a proposal by the owner and its underwriters,' said Zacharatos.

'It is an application that has been developed and informed every step of the way with the feedback of the community, local authorities and Maori.'

Zacharatos was called to give evidence at the end of the first day of the hearing, and presented to independent commissioners, retired Environment Court Judge Gordon Whiting, Cultural Commissioner Rauru Kirikiri, marine engineer John Lumsden and environmental scientist Dr Shane Kelly.

It was Zacharatos' his tenth trip to New Zealand since the Rena wrecked on the reef off the Tauranga coast.

He said consultation with the community was extensive including a boat trip in a 3-metre swell to Motiti Island where he had to leap in the water fully clothed to reach the shore.

And it's made a difference.

'We are now four years from the grounding and we are still here, still working trying to honour our promise to provide a responsible resolution of the incident,' he said.

'With the valuable feedback of the community and iwi, we have extended the works performed on the site on several occasions to the point where, with the exception of the large cruise ship in Italy, this is by far the most expensive operation in maritime history.'

The marathon hearing is set down for four weeks and is being held at Baypark Stadium.

Wreck not a threat

Earlier on the opening day, the packed public gallery heard counsel for the owners Matthew Casey QC who said the application was not retrospective and did not cover the grounding or discharge from the Rena.

'It is about the future and in my submission, nothing else,' Casey said.

In December 2014, the Transport Accident Investigation Commission found the captain and bridge crew of the Rena failed navigation and watchkeeping standards in at least six voyages before the grounding.

The listing wreck, which later split in foul ocean conditions, had 1368 containers and about 1700 tonnes of heavy fuel oil on board while 350 tonnes of oil was estimated to have gone into the sea.

As salvers worked on the vessel, beach crews cleaned up the spilled oil and flotsam strewn along the Bay of Plenty coast.

Casey said the wreck was now safe. The oil, cryolite and tributyltin (TBT) found in paint flakes from the ship's hull was removed.

'The applicant's position is that it is now just a shipwreck, it is not a threat to the environment or to the health and wellbeing of people,' he said.

Rena joined the 'pantheon' of an estimated 3000 wrecks around the New Zealand coast, he said.

The cost of the salvage was in excess of $500m, the second most expensive in history behind the Costa Concordia wrecked off the coast of Italy, with the majority of it spent on environmental effects and Bay of Plenty communities.

Western Bay of Plenty hapu Te Patuwai is firmly against leaving the Rena on Astrolabe Reef.

Chairman Kereama Akuhata said regardless of the outcome of this hearing, the Environment Court beckoned.

'Win or lose, I think we'll be going to the environment court,' Akuhata said.

'This is not going to be the end of it.'

He said Te Patuwai wanted the wreck, chemicals and flotsam removed 'in all its entirety'.

'Being realistic, there's not too much hope in that.'

Unimpressed with iwi

Outside of the hearing, Buddy Mikaere, spokesman for Motiti Island Maori, Ngai Te Hapu, was unimpressed with the position of the iwi whose territory stretched from Maketu to Matata.

'Here's an iwi that has a very small piece of the Bay of Plenty coastline, trying to set the kaupapa (agenda) for the rest of us,' said Mikaere.

Motiti Island communities were the most affected from the wreck consent and Ngati Makino had no claim there.

He said claims from Daina Shipping Company there was no longer a threat to the environmental and communities were overstated.

His expert advice said there could be more than 20 tonnes of heavy fuel on the ship and leaving it on the reef created a significant spiritual risk.

'There are no guarantees that wreck they want to dump there is environmentally safe,' said Mikaere.

'That affects people, it harms people, it's psychologically damaging to us. To be able to say that is not right. It's incorrect.'

Rena by the numbers

800 People involved in the oil spill response team at its height, including 500 military personnel.
8000 Volunteers registered to help with the clean-up.
1000 Tonnes of oily sand recovered.
1712 cubic metres of heavy fuel oil on board Rena when it grounded.
1467 cubic metres of oil recovered from Rena.
244 cubic metres of oil escaped to the sea.
1368 Containers on original manifest.
1107 Containers recovered.
1000 Tonnes of non-metallic debris including 720kgs of plastic beads recovered.
407 Sea birds cared for at a treatment and rehabilitation centre at peak of the disaster.
365 Little blue penguins cleaned and released.
2062 Dead birds collected