New Zealand’s Rena Disaster
By James Donahue
Not too many years ago the general name for large ships that carried freight on the high seas was “freighter.” Today, with all of the changes in technology, the massive vessels that haul the manufactured products to world markets are known as container ships. The letters MV before their name refers to the fact that they are “motorized vessels,” usually powered by diesel engines instead of the old coal-fired steam driven ships that once dominated the world waterways.
The 774-foot MV Rena was a relatively new container ship when it went aground on a reef near Tauranga, New Zealand, on October 5, 2011. Like all running container ships the Rena’s decks were stacked with packaged freight carefully designed to be lifted away by giant wrenches in port and dropped on waiting trucks for delivery. The loading and unloading of ships had been streamlined to a point where everything worked like clockwork and without the need for dock workers.
When the Rena first drove its hull into the rocks the first problem was oil leakage. The oil was saturating the waters and the local coastline and endangering the local wildlife. Also large container boxes laden with freight began falling from the tilting decks into the sea. Then storms struck in the midst of salvage operations. By January 2012 the wreck cracked and broken into two parts.
Hundreds of tons of the ship’s fuel oil caused the worst maritime spill in New Zealand’s history. It resulted in the extensive die-off of marine life and thousands of sea birds. About 300 of the containers spilled from the deck creating a volume of debris and flotsam in the waters. It was learned that the cargo included eight containers filled with hazardous materials. The ship was laden with 1,700 tons of heavy fuel oil and 200 tons of marine diesel.
The salvage operation that went on for months involved extensive shoreline cleanup, and the removal of 850 tons of debris from the wreck and surrounding waters.
Captain Mauro Balomaga and his navigation officer, Leonil Relon, were sentenced to seven months in jail for mishandling the ship and then altering the ship’s papers. Daina Shipping, the Rena’s owner, was charged with discharging of harmful substances.
A report by the New Zealand Transport Accident Investigation Commission said the accident happened because the crew was taking shortcuts from established sea routes. It appears that they wanted to meet a deadline for reaching the port of Tauranga.
The wreck has since been stripped of anything of value. The broken hull has been left at the scene . . . one of many wrecks dotting the rocky coastal waters of New Zealand.
The Rena was never a ship of beauty. It was one of 15 ships built as freight carriers by the German shipyard Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG in Kiel for the Israeli shipping company Zim. This vessel’s first name was ZIM America when launched in 1990. It was later registered under the Maltese flag and renamed Andaman Sea. In 2010 the ship was sold to Daina Shipping Co. and given her final name, Rena.
By James Donahue
Not too many years ago the general name for large ships that carried freight on the high seas was “freighter.” Today, with all of the changes in technology, the massive vessels that haul the manufactured products to world markets are known as container ships. The letters MV before their name refers to the fact that they are “motorized vessels,” usually powered by diesel engines instead of the old coal-fired steam driven ships that once dominated the world waterways.
The 774-foot MV Rena was a relatively new container ship when it went aground on a reef near Tauranga, New Zealand, on October 5, 2011. Like all running container ships the Rena’s decks were stacked with packaged freight carefully designed to be lifted away by giant wrenches in port and dropped on waiting trucks for delivery. The loading and unloading of ships had been streamlined to a point where everything worked like clockwork and without the need for dock workers.
When the Rena first drove its hull into the rocks the first problem was oil leakage. The oil was saturating the waters and the local coastline and endangering the local wildlife. Also large container boxes laden with freight began falling from the tilting decks into the sea. Then storms struck in the midst of salvage operations. By January 2012 the wreck cracked and broken into two parts.
Hundreds of tons of the ship’s fuel oil caused the worst maritime spill in New Zealand’s history. It resulted in the extensive die-off of marine life and thousands of sea birds. About 300 of the containers spilled from the deck creating a volume of debris and flotsam in the waters. It was learned that the cargo included eight containers filled with hazardous materials. The ship was laden with 1,700 tons of heavy fuel oil and 200 tons of marine diesel.
The salvage operation that went on for months involved extensive shoreline cleanup, and the removal of 850 tons of debris from the wreck and surrounding waters.
Captain Mauro Balomaga and his navigation officer, Leonil Relon, were sentenced to seven months in jail for mishandling the ship and then altering the ship’s papers. Daina Shipping, the Rena’s owner, was charged with discharging of harmful substances.
A report by the New Zealand Transport Accident Investigation Commission said the accident happened because the crew was taking shortcuts from established sea routes. It appears that they wanted to meet a deadline for reaching the port of Tauranga.
The wreck has since been stripped of anything of value. The broken hull has been left at the scene . . . one of many wrecks dotting the rocky coastal waters of New Zealand.
The Rena was never a ship of beauty. It was one of 15 ships built as freight carriers by the German shipyard Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG in Kiel for the Israeli shipping company Zim. This vessel’s first name was ZIM America when launched in 1990. It was later registered under the Maltese flag and renamed Andaman Sea. In 2010 the ship was sold to Daina Shipping Co. and given her final name, Rena.