Vessel owners may face spill bill

A leak from the bunker tank of HS Alcina caused approximately several hundred litres of oil to spill in the Whangarei Harbour. Photo / Supplied

Owners of an overseas vessel which leaked oil into the Whangarei Harbour may have to foot the clean-up bill.

Jim Lyle, regional harbourmaster for the Northland Regional Council, said authorities were alerted to a 20m by 1m oil slick of about several hundred litres by refinery staff about 4pm Friday.

Crude Oil tanker HS Alcina had been discharging a load of Kuwaiti crude oil at a refinery jetty when it was confirmed the spill had come from the vessel's bunker (fuel) tanks.

The spill triggered a full-incident response where an oil response team, comprised of refinery and regional council staff, used sorbent booms to prevent the spill from washing ashore. Now the owners of the vessel may have to pay for the clean up.

Mr Lyle said it was difficult to quantify how much oil had escaped but it was thought to have been several hundred litres.

Most of the oil was recovered Friday night and authorities swept beaches in the harbour Saturday morning for residual traces of oil.

Mr Lyle said the oil that was not able to be recovered before dark on Friday had been spread very thinly and most appeared to have been broken up by wind and tide movements with little or no impact on the environment.

Refining NZ CEO Sjoerd Post thanked the public for their support, as members from the community offered to help, and said he was happy with how successfully the incident was handled.

"As unfortunate as the incident was, I hope that the response will reassure the public, particularly our neighbours, that we take these things seriously and that through investment in time, equipment and training , we are prepared for these types of events."

Refining NZ posted updates of the response via its Facebook page.

Its latest update, posted Saturday morning, said: "We believe the spill has now been completely recovered but we will keep watching the beaches and the coastline over the next few days as a precaution."

Maritime New Zealand will now liaise with the vessel's owners on what to do next, including repairs. Mr Lyle said it was too early to say whether any enforcement action would be taken after the incident.