Giant ironsand carrier drifts off Northland

A giant ironsand carrier was drifting off the west coast of Northland last night with mechanical problems.

A Maritime Safety Authority spokeswoman said the fully laden 140,000-tonne Taharoa Express was about 16km off Dargaville, drifting towards the coast.

The ship's engines were shut down at 3.30pm after a crack was discovered in its propeller shaft.

The water was too deep to drop anchor, she said.

The authority was in radio contact with the ship's master and a marine safety inspector was flown out to the ship by helicopter from Whangarei.

Last night he discussed the situation with the vessel's master, the chief engineer and engineering advisers on shore.

The Marine Safety Authority did not hold any fears for the vessel at this stage, said the spokeswoman.

The ship was reasonably well offshore and fair weather was expected.

But she said the vessel's plight was being closely monitored because its fuel tanks contained 1100 tonnes of heavy fuel oil and 370 tonnes of diesel.

If tugs were needed they would have to come from overseas as none in New Zealand were big enough for the job.

Russell Kilvington, the authority's director, said that at this stage the plan to stabilise the ship was to drop its anchors at a depth of 50m.

The Taharoa Express has made regular voyages between New Zealand and Japan since April 1999.

Early yesterday, the ship left the offshore loading terminal of the west coast ironsand mine at Taharoa, south of Kawhia.

The Taharoa Express is owned by Arafra Shipping, a Panamanian subsidiary of Nippon Yusen KK.

The company's website says the ship's annual cargoes of up to 700,000 tonnes of ironsand concentrate supply five Japanese steel mills.

Further reading: nzherald.co.nz/marine