Rena owners hit out over fears

Roger King, who has been involved in the salvage of the Rena, said about 12.4 tonnes of the original 21-tonne container load of copper clove remained unrecovered.

The owner and insurer of the Rena has hit back at criticism about the risk of future contamination from the wreck, saying people's fears had been fuelled by deliberate distortions or wilful ignorance of the facts.

The Astrolabe Community Trust representing the ship's owner and insurer yesterday responded to groups who have opposed its application to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council to leave the wreck on the reef.

Lawyer Matthew Casey QC, acting for the trust, told yesterday's hearing that there had been a great deal of misinformation about what was in the vessel and its current condition.

"The applicant has done everything within its ability to provide up-to-date information to the community, to regulators and to iwi in particular."

He said some people did not accept any version of the facts that did not match their predetermined views.

Mr Casey said it was incorrect to say that the wreck was still a source of toxic cargo that would continue indefinitely to discharge and contaminate.

The issues in contention included opposition by several Maori groups and individuals who wanted the wreck removed, and the "somewhat unusual" adversarial stance by the Crown, which he said seemed a belated attempt to appease criticisms. The applicant opposed the Crown's submission to remove the wreck's bow pieces lodged higher up on the reef. Removal would cost $100 million and involve significant difficulty and risk for relatively little benefit in terms of effects.

Mr Casey urged the panel to avoid the temptation of agreeing to remove the hull in order to be seen to do something to cater for those who wanted the whole wreck removed.

Roger King, who has been involved in the salvage of the Rena, said about 12.4 tonnes of the original 21-tonne container load of copper clove remained unrecovered.

"The copper clove operation was concluded last week with NZDS having removed all the copper located. They are transferring their focus back to removing the remaining few scattered pockets of small debris," he said.

Captain King, a master mariner with Technical Marine Consultants, said any copper remaining in cargo hold six was under a mass of wreckage. Copper clove was heavy and settled quickly.

Only an unlikely massive shift in the hull would reveal more copper. The suggestion that the copper would spread over an area of two football fields was "unreal", he said.

There had been little movement of the broken-off stern section of the hull from where it had lain since 2012 at depths down to 45 metres. The sideways rotation of the hull had been caused by the collapse of the structure, so that it was now only half its original 32m width.

He said the stern section would keep collapsing on itself. The hull would not shift to the point that it left a trail of debris.

A large rock outcrop aft of the ship's accommodation block was also preventing significant movement. "The susceptibility of the stern section to future wholesale movement is limited."