Rena's owners again apologise for grounding

The Rena. Photo / Supplied

A boss acting for the MV Rena's Greek owners has again said sorry for the ship's calamitous grounding four years ago.

Konstantinos Zacharatos, a top executive with Rena owners Daina Shipping, yesterday made the apology at resource consent hearings into an application to leave the remains of the ship on Astrolabe Reef and to authorise the discharge of any further contaminants.

The hearings, which began yesterday at Mt Maunganui's ASB Baypark stadium, come nearly four years after the 37,000-tonne Rena slammed into the reef, setting in motion the country's worst maritime environmental disaster.

Although several iwi groups remained against the proposal, Mr Zacharatos said he did not consider the consent process as "adversarial".

"The application for resource consent before the tribunal is not simply a proposal by the owner and its underwriters," he told a panel of commissioners.

"It is an application that has been developed and informed every step of the way with the feedback of the community, local authorities and Maori."

Earlier in the hearings, the legal counsel acting for the owners claimed the Bay of Plenty would be no better off - "and possibly worse" - if their proposal to leave the wreck on the reef was rejected.

Matt Casey, QC, said if the consent was declined or not exercised, the existing contaminants - including copper and TBT - would remain there and there would be no monitoring, contingencies or other mitigation to address them.

However, he assured the panel the wreck was now in a state where the potential for harm to the environment or to human health was "minimal", with any remaining risks addressed by conditions of the consent.

Under the Maritime Transport Act the Rena was no longer a navigation hazard or what could be defined as a hazardous ship, he said.08-09-2015 05:00:00

Before salvage operations to clear a surrounding debris field, the Rena's wreckage occupied around 1ha, or 2 per cent of the reef's total area - salvage work had now meant that 98 per cent of the reef would be unaffected by the owners' proposal.

More than $500 million had been spent by the owners over the past four years on a lengthy salvage operation - making it the world's second most expensive after the grounding of the cruise ship Costa Concordia - and the owners had gone beyond what was required under the Maritime Transport Act to address concerns, he said.

Mr Casey argued that the "most significant effect" of the proposal was that the reef had important cultural connections for tangata whenua.

The owners of the ship will continue giving evidence today.

The hearings

• A resource consent application by the owners of the MV Rena to abandon the wreck on Astrolabe Reef and authorise any further discharges of contaminants from it.

• Began in Mt Maunganui yesterday and set down for the next six weeks.

• A panel of four commissioners led by retired Environment Court judge Gordon Whiting will consider evidence by the owners and submissions.