This article was first published by RNZ.
Labour is calling for the government to make clear what it knows and what it does not, about the potential for salvaging the HMNZS Manawanui.
It follows the deputy Chief of Navy Commodore Andrew Brown saying they were committed to supporting the ship’s removal.
However, the prime minister yesterday said the Navy and insurers were yet to decide whether to try to recover the ship.
The specialist dive and hydrographic vessel hit the reef last Saturday off Samoa’s Upolu, the country’s second-largest and most-populated island which houses the capital, Apia.
The crew left the ship after it began listing and were rescued to the island. It caught fire and sank the following day.
The local residents and the Samoan government have remained concerned about the environmental effects of the roughly 950 tonnes of fuel in the ship’s main tanks leaking, but as yet no evidence of that having happened has been reported.
Some oil and diesel that was in rotation in the ship’s systems has leaked during and after the sinking.
“We are identifying fuel trickling from the vessel... NZDF has released a video footage of that overnight. There is still no evidence of leaks from the main fuel tanks,” he said.
The ship has the equivalent of third-party insurance, so at least part of the cost of the cleanup and salvage should be covered.
Commodore Brown said the navy was communicating with salvage companies all over the world to help remove the fuel, and a salvage and recovery expert representing the insurers was helping the navy figure out how to get the fuel off the ship and out of the water as soon as possible.
He said they did not have a “solid timeline” for a salvage operation at this point - but the navy was committed to its recovery.
“The recovery efforts will take time, but New Zealand is committed to doing the right thing,” he said.
“We’re committed to working with the Samoan government and we will continue to work from on site and from back from New Zealand in supporting the overarching operation and the removal of Manawanui.
“It would be just me guessing timelines but I can assure you we will communicate timelines - particularly, in the first instance, to the local community and the Samoan government as soon as we get those timelines agreed.”
But Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at Monday’s post-Cabinet media briefing said he had not been updated on whether the wreck would be recovered or not.
“The work will begin with the navy and the insurers about to whether it’s a salvage or a wreck. I haven’t been briefed that we’re going down one of those paths at this point in time, that will ultimately be decisions for the navy to work with the insurers around.
“For right now, what our focus is on is on making sure there’s no contamination on the beaches, there’s no impact on wildlife.”
RNZ has sought further clarification from Acting Defence Minister Chris Penk about whether the navy plans to recover the ship or not. A full salvage operation could carry a potentially enormous cost.
Luxon said there had been no conversations about the potential costs by the Cabinet, and they had no idea at this point how much they may be, but that would be worked through on a commercial basis with the insurers.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said it was becoming muddled and the government should clear it up.
“I think they should be a bit clearer about what they’re investigating as possibilities. I do accept that they’re not going to have answers on all of those questions right now, but I think they should share what they do know.”
He said he had no information on how much a salvage operation might cost.
“I think the government should share a bit more about what they’re considering, what the options might be and what the sort of questions that they need answered are, before they make those final decisions.”
Luxon also said he had consistently conveyed New Zealand’s apologies for the unfortunate accident to Samoan Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa, including on his recent trip to the East Asia Summit in Laos.
“Consistently conveyed that we are sorry this unfortunate accident happened, but what we are very focused on as a combined New Zealand-Samoa team is actually making sure we stay very very focused on the task at hand.
“We want to make sure that we are doing the best we can to plug any leaks, importantly removing any debris from beaches, containers on reefs, and we’ve got to make sure that we’re communicating the status of where the fuel is and what the contaminants are.”
Hipkins said it was important the government continued to work with the Samoan government at a leader-to-leader level.
Commodore Brown said the navy was taking the matter “very, very seriously”.
“We’re working hand in glove with the Samoan government, with our other agencies such as maritime New Zealand,
There was a team removing all the items and debris from the vessel they could find on a daily basis. The HMNZS Canterbury was also inbound to support the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting next week, and is carrying “environmental containers” to help “should any environmental needs develop”.
“Yeah, I can assure you, this is not a slow effort. We are going at the pace, absolute pace that we can it’s a very complex situation. Even the diving operations are very complex at depth and and tidal and weather situations.
“It is something that we cannot rush, but we also absolutely have to work at pace.”
- RNZ