Extracting fuel from sunken Manawanui could take months

Saturday, 2 November 2024

Preparations were under way to float, then tow three 10-foot (3-metre) containers from the reef to the shore.

Extracting up to 900,000 litres of diesel from the Navy’s sunken Manawanui could take months yet.

Nearly a month after the naval disaster on Samoa’s south coast and the Defence Force is finalising details with a salvage contractor to extract diesel from the dive and survey vessel, which lies 30m underwater after sinking in October.

Commodore Andrew Brown, the Defence Force’s senior national representative in Samoa, told The Post on Friday he expected the response to the sinking to take months, though he was unwilling to put a timeframe on this.

“We're here for the long haul. It would be inappropriate for me to give actual dates. But it's a very controlled, deliberate activity. The priority is around … reducing any environmental impacts, and then the next priority is around that fuel.”

In this photo provided by the New Zealand Defence Force, divers survey the area around HMNZS Manawanui on the southern coast of Upulo, Samoa, after the Manawanui ran aground and sank on Oct. 6. (AC Jese Somerville/New Zealand Defence Force via AP)

The HMNZS Manawanui, a $103 million dive and survey vessel, sunk off the south coast of Samoa’s Upolu island on Sunday, October 6, after grounding on a reef the night prior. All crew managed to abandon ship without serious harm, and a Defence Force court of inquiry into the sinking is under way.

While the worst fears of environmental disaster have not yet materialised -- there has been some leakage. Defence previously estimated it at 200,000 litres of diesel, but is now thought to be less, although exact numbers haven’t been specified.

Brown said it was still early days for the plan to remove the diesel, with due diligence being done on a contract being negotiated with a salvage firm.

Two containers from HMNZS Manawanui that were retrieved off the Southern Coast of Upulo, are moved to a truck for transportation as part of Op Resolution.

“We're expecting that we'll be able to advise a fuel removal plan shortly,” he said.

After removing the fuel the prospect of recovering the ship would be worked through with the Samoan government, he said.

“We're looking at a number of options … around either recovery of the vessel or whether the vessel remains, but … there's a lot of planning and work has to go on.”

The coming cyclone season, from November to April, added to the existing sense of urgency, he said.

Easily accessible items on the ship, including weapons, sensitive equipment, and the crew’s personal items, had been taken off the ship.

The three containers removed from the reef were floated and then towed ashore.

“There will still be weapons and equipment in the platform that we will be looking at how we can extract that.”

The United Kingdom’s HMS Tamar, which assisted with the response earlier in the month, had recovered the important navigation record book from the ship among other debris, which Brown said would be used as “evidence for any future activity”.

Around 40 staff from Defence, Maritime NZ, and the foreign ministry were working on the response in Samoa, “hand-in-glove” with the country’s government.

“Everything we do is approved and endorsed by the Samoan government.”

A “sheen” emerging from the Manawanui was being monitored every day by drone flights and dives, and while Brown was confident the fuel hold was intact, there had been minor leaks to plug.

“We're using everything, like an underwater tarpaulin, underwater bags over the top of vents. A lot of this is just trickling out of parts of the ship as it sort of makes its way, so we sort of catch it in one spot and it'll pop up in another. But there's all sorts of innovative approaches.”

Despite prior suggestion that marine life had been harmed by leakage from the ship, Brown said there had been no reports of impact to wildlife. A hotline had been set up for locals to report any issues.

The response effort also had to contend with Samoa’s hosting of a meeting of Commonwealth country leaders, which required considerable resource and attention, and had the HMNZS Canterbury in Apia to support the event.

The Canterbury had now transported the three shipping containers and rigid inflatable boats recovered from the Manawanui back to New Zealand, and would be preparing for the cyclone season, Brown said.