Six incidents with ships in two decades

There have been six cases of ships being grounded or hitting the ocean floor in the Bay in the past two decades - including a vessel which lost power in 2005.

But the Port of Tauranga says this figure needs to be put into context considering there were more than 44,000 instances of commercial vessels entering and leaving the port in the same period.

The number of groundings following Rena and the Schelde Trader last Friday prompted one Tauranga man to write to the Bay of Plenty Times about a case in 2005 when a vessel also grounded after losing power.

Matua resident Greg Jenks has suggested our precious coastline should be renamed the Shipwreck Coast after the latest grounding and recalled another grounding of a cargo ship on New Year's Day in 2005 on the southern end of Matakana Island.

The ship lost power as it approached the port and was grounded briefly.

This does not appear to have been reported in the media but for him and others who climbed Mauao for sunrise that day it was an "incredulous sight".

Prompt action by Port of Tauranga tugs and a rising tide resulted in the ship being dragged off the sand and towed safely into port.

But Port operations manager Nigel Drake said of the six incidents in 20 years: "Those six incidents have to be put in context when compared to the 44,526 successful movements of commercial vessels in and out of port in that same period," he said.

Mr Drake said while shipping incidents were always reported to the appropriate authorities not every shipping incident was reported to the media.

None of the six incidents resulted in significant damage or pollution.

The Schelde Trader - a 133m long cargo ship chartered by Maersk Line which lost power and grounded on rocks about 10.35am last Friday at the northwest point of Mauao - sailed for Noumea on Sunday evening with a load of bunkers after minor repairs.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council group manager for water management Eddie Grogan said the Schelde Trader was on the rocks for about 20 minutes before being re-floated and taken by tugs out beyond the harbour entrance where it waited for tidal changes.

A regional council spokesperson said an investigation had been launched into the Schelde Trader grounding.