Salvage costs for MSC Rena pass U$100 million
February 16, 2012
New Zealand’s environment minister, Nick Smith, has said that a “crude estimate” of the salvage costs since the MSC-operated containership Rena hit the North Island’s Astrolabe Reef in October last year is NZ$130 million (U$108m) so far.
And he added that this was expected to escalate considerably as the complex and painstaking operation of removing containers from the submerged stern section of the wreck continued.
Smith told reporters that of the NZ$130 million, the government had paid NZ$28 million, with the vessel’s Greek owner, Costamare, paying the rest: the direct costs, including fees for salvor Svitzer and environmental recovery specialist Braemar Howells.
The NZ$28 million has been spent by public agencies, including Maritime New Zealand, on the clean-up operation and defence personnel.
The minister said that the government intended to seek to recover those costs from the vessel’s owner and/or insurers when the final figure was known.
Meanwhile, a further eight containers were removed from the sunken aft section last weekend which brought the total number of boxes recovered from the ill-fated ship to 578.
When the Rena hit the reef, there were 1,368 containers onboard.
Courtesy of IFW
