Further news on stricken MSC Rena is not good
November 25, 2011
A row has erupted in New Zealand after it was revealed yesterday that the cargo ship Rena, which ran aground last month, was carrying 32 containers containing hazardous chemicals – 21 more than was originally disclosed.
The Rena caused New Zealand’s worst environmental crisis when it foundered on Astrolabe Reef, off Tauranga, and leaked hundreds of tonnes of oil.
At the time, it was believed that the vessel was carrying 11 containers that posed a risk to people’s health and the environment.
However, yesterday, the insurer of Mediterranean Shipping Company, which chartered the vessel, sparked a furore after admitting that there were a further 21 containers on board loaded with potentially hazardous chemicals.
Government body Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) director Catherine Taylor warned that the fact that the additional 21 containers were not declared could have legal repercussions.
Taylor said she had asked for details of the cargo as soon as the Rena grounded on 5 October.
“For reasons still unknown, the contents of these 21 containers were not declared as dangerous goods in the original manifest provided to MNZ, as required under the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code,” she said.
“MNZ is carrying out a thorough investigation as to why these dangerous goods were not declared and whether this constitutes a breach of the law.”
It is understood that the containers were storing cryolite, a by-product of the aluminium smelting process, dangerous if ingested or inhaled in its dry powder form.
It is now known that there were 490 tonnes of cryolite, wrapped in one-tonne plastic bags inside containers on board the Rena.
Seventeen of the containers are understood to be underwater, and their position under the deck makes them inaccessible to the salvers.
There were 1,368 containers on board when the Rena hit the reef.
Taylor said finding out about the dangerous material at this stage was “frustrating”, and justified the careful approach salvers had been taking.
Courtesy of IFW
