Editorial: Oil spill action shows we care

Oil spill at One Tree Point, Whangarei Harbour.

Northlanders don't own the ocean or coastline but boy, do we value it. So when it is damaged, we care.

The Ningpo leaked about 7000 litres of oil while berthed at Northport, Marsden Point, on Tuesday. It is a container/cargo ship, and is not going anywhere until Maritime New Zealand is happy its tanks and hull have been cleaned and the source of the leak addressed.

It happened about 8am/8.30am on Tuesday.

Teams from Northport, Refining New Zealand and the Northland Regional Council (NRC) swung into action.

Most of the oil was caught via containment booms around the vessel.

The NRC's purpose-built barge Taranui used skimming equipment during the clean-up. White booms were employed on the nearby beach to soak up oil - they were black by the end of the clean-up.

Workers cleaned the nearby beaches and scrubbed contaminated rocks.

Out on Snake Bank, there was more skimming.

The spill took place on an incoming tide, which peaked at about 12.30pm before turning and beginning to flow out.

There are strong currents near the spill site, and shellfish beds nearby.

Initially, it will be difficult to ascertain any environmental damage, and how far the spill carried.

But the clean-up operation appears to have been successful. Only time will tell the damage to what lies beneath the surface, but the initial response suggests well-drilled recovery teams had it under control.

The ship's owners are flying a team from Singapore to investigate the source of the leak. Hopefully the efficiency of their investigation matches the work of the Northlanders on Tuesday.