New boat for oil spill response in Tauranga

The new oil spill vessel Awanui. Photo/supplied

Bay of Plenty Regional Council is holding a special ceremony tomorrow to bless its new oil spill response vessel.

The new boat, called Awanui, will be blessed at Tauranga's waterfront at 10am on August 15.

The vessel will help regional council's maritime team with oil spill response, navigation aid maintenance and safety on the water.

Awanui is an 11.25 metre oil spill response/multi role vessel capable of rapid deployment of specialist oil recover and containment equipment.

It can carry out routine maintenance and repairs of the navigational aids of the Tauranga Harbour and recover debris from the water.

The boat can carry loads of up to 7000kg will service the entire Bay of Plenty region inshore limits in a range of weather conditions.