Owner of sunken vessel vanishes, leaving ratepayers facing salvage bill

Tuesday, 14 April 2026

Owners of a sunken vessel at Thames have gone to ground, leaving ratepayers to potentially foot a massive salvage bill.

The 45-ft steel vessel Rewa Rules sunk at Thames wharf, following the arrival of former tropical cyclone Vaianu.

However, speaking to the Waikato Times on Tuesday, regional harbour master Chris Bredenbeck said ownership was unclear.

“Obviously, whoever owns this vessel has seen the costs or imagines the cost and is making themselves very scarce.

“So, the challenge with that is who picks up the cost of salvage recovery? That's something where we're working on at the moment - trying to establish an owner and then get them to take responsibility for their vessel.’’

However, Bredenbeck is not positive about finding the owner.

“It's looking somewhat unlikely that we're going to be able to find somebody who will claim ownership of this vessel.’’

The ex-commercial boat is not registered anywhere and leads provided by locals on perceived ownership had proven fruitless to-date, he said.

The vessel is now partially submerged, on its side, next to the wharf pilings.

A team consisting of a Waikato Regional Council maritime officer, iwi, Thames Coromandel District Council and a marine surveyor have carried out a situation assessment.

“We're looking at the logistical planning of refloating this and options for scrap.’’

The owner will have about a week to come forward.

“If we can't find an owner, the vessel has to get treated as it's abandoned and that gives us the power to be able to make decisions in relation to that vessel but unfortunately, with that comes a cost, and that cost is not being worn by the people who are responsible for it, and that's the vessel owner.’’

The derelict vessel had been the subject of several queries in recent months.

“I don’t know why it was even tied to that wharf in that location - it's a terrible location to tie the boat.

“I know several of my staff have been working to try and establish ownership of this vessel and find out what's happening with it.

“So, there are lots of these derelict vessels around our region, somebody buys them for next to nothing and they think they're getting a great product and they end up with this liability and they don't understand that they're responsible for it and then it ends up being our ratepayers that have to foot the bill for these sorts of recoveries.’’

Buoys would be placed around the vessel for safety in the short-term with salvage operations expected to start later.

“It's not something you can just drop tools and do. It does take a bit of planning and when we refloat it, we need somewhere for it to go to be dismantled or disposed of.

“It takes time to get all those ducks in a row.’’

Thames Coromandel District Council have been approached for comment.