In this week's Newsmakers Revisited, we look back to New Zealand's worst maritime disaster — the grounding of the MV Rena — and the response that followed.
The 21-year-old container ship was on route from Napier and carrying more than 1700 tonnes of heavy fuel oil when it ran aground on Astrolabe Bar off the coast of Tauranga in 2011.
Investigations later revealed that the ship's captain had taken what was later described as a shortcut, wedging it on the reef at high tide.
For Maritime New Zealand's safety commander Mick Courtnell, the first sight of the vessel was "quite emotional".
"Seeing a large ship in a place where it shouldn't be...in shallow water on a reef, surrounded by white water and looking very damaged — it was not a comfortable look," Courtnell said.
He said standing on the ship was a surreal experience.
"It would be like sitting inside a crashed car. It's like a big beached whale — it doesn't want to be there. And knowing despite all the kicking and pushing and shoving, it's not coming off."
The Rena, which was beached off the coast of Tauranga in 2011, remains New Zealand’s worst maritime environmental disaster. (Source: 1News)
A defining moment of the disaster was when local divers went to examine the extent of the damage.
"The photographs were quite telling, and it was quite a sombre atmosphere in the room that day," Courtnell said.
"The ship's keel at the very bottom off the ship was peeled back like a tin of Spam."
Courtnell said the large scale of the disaster and the cleanup job ahead quickly became apparent.
"The size of the ship, the nature of the seabed she was on, the amount of cargo on board, and the impeding weather. All those factors put together, it was not going to be a good outcome."
The main concern was the 1700 tonnes of heavy fuel oil on board, which posed a serious risk to the surrounding marine environment.
Then a storm lashed the area, sending containers tumbling into the sea and spilling about 350 tonnes of oil into the sea, coating nearby beaches and marine life in thick, persistent sludge.
Nearby wildlife was hit particularly hard, with thousands of birds killed and dozens of little blue penguins (kororā) found smothered in oil.
The Rena clean-up response involved more than 1000 people at its peak, including many Tauranga locals eager to help clean local beaches.
"The nature of the people in Tauranga is such they own it, and they want to get involved very early and very quickly.," Courtnell said.
"There were attempts to recover oil that had already washed ashore. It was off the beach, but now it was in rubbish bins and in council car parks."
Beaches were eventually closed to the public to allow trained teams to work safely, with Courtnell saying high-value beaches were given priority cleanup ahead of the Christmas period.
Over months, the Rena broke apart under relentless swells. Salvage crews worked in challenging conditions to remove containers and recover oil.
But five years later, what remained of the Rena wreck was left on the reef, where it remains today.
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