Northland risk: RMS Niagara oil spill would have ‘adverse effects’, DoC tells Govt

The RMS Niagara was the first large passenger liner to use oil fuel for four of her eight boilers. Photo / Alexander Turnbull Library

An “environmental ticking time bomb” appears to have the Government’s attention 35 years after concerns were first raised about RMS Niagara leaking oil into Northland waters.

Oil has been coming from the wreck since it was hit by a German mine off the Bream Head coast in June 1940. Its wreck now rests 121m below the surface on the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park boundary.

A shipwreck expert says while the exact quantity of furnace oil still onboard is unknown, it could be 1000 tonnes.

And if the Government doesn’t act soon a catastrophic” event may coat our coastlines in furnace oil.

But Hauraki Gulf Forum chief executive Alex Rogers is hopeful its calls for action have finally been heard.

Hauraki Gulf Forum chief executive Alex Rogers. Photo / Alex Rogers

The Hauraki Gulf Forum - made up of government, council and iwi representatives - has kept pressure on the Government to investigate Niagara’s wreck to avoid an environmental disaster.

Rogers was encouraged to see Associate Transport Minister Kiri Allan backtrack on her previous stance that an investigation was unnecessary.

Allan’s office confirmed she has not ruled out survey work in the future and has agreed to meet with the forum to discuss the ship.

However, a spokesman said no formal review “as such” into a marine survey was taking place but discussions about the RMS Niagara situation with Maritime NZ officials were ongoing.

The forum hoped Allan would take a paper to Cabinet to secure funding for an investigation into the wreck.

“We think that’s not only the right thing to do but it’s now urgently needed,” Rogers said.

Shipwreck expert Keith Gordon said time is ticking as the RMS Niagara itself has been under the sea for more than 80 years.

“It is degrading and it’s biologically imploding. It’s subject to earthquakes, it’s lying on its side and so in time it’s going to collapse.”

Rogers said the RMS Niagara was in its “peak leak period” and the risk to Northland and Auckland could be “catastrophic”.

“You can imagine a scenario where beautiful parts of the Northland and Auckland coastline, including our treasured islands, are coated with oil.”

And we are not talking petrol out the pump, Rogers said.

“It’s really thick, old furnace oil - it’s nasty stuff ... imagine if we saw our fairy terns, our most endangered birds struggling in their only remaining habitat with oil on the beaches.”

Rogers said not only would marine life suffer but coastal residents and tourism, too.

“There are small risks and then there are big risks and this is in the category of major risk to the New Zealand public but this is a major risk to New Zealand.”

Conservation Minister Willow-Jean Prime said in response to a parliamentary written question that the Department of Conservation (DoC) had advised an oil spill from the wreck could have “adverse effects” on the Hauraki Gulf and Northland’s coastline.

However, the extent of the impact would depend on factors such as the amount of oil lost and how widely and where it was dispersed by winds and tides.

Prime expressed concern and said she is awaiting advice from the Department of Conservation on the matter.

Gordon said a survey would pin down the amount of oil still held within the “high-risk” wreckage.

“We don’t really know how much oil is stored in the ship, we know from our observations of how the ship is and knowing the amount of oil that was carried in various tanks that there could be a thousand tonnes of oil still in that ship.”

Gordon said an oil slick more than 15cm thick drifted onto beaches near Bream Head when the German mine struck the ship.

The RMS Niagara was a frequent visitor to Auckland. Photo / Alexander Turnbull Library

More oil leaked when explosives were used the following year during a salvage operation to retrieve gold from the wreckage as the vessel’s structure was further weakened, he said.

Twelve years later another round of explosives was used in an operation to retrieve the remaining gold - again casting more oil into the water.

“There is a lot of concern about these wartime wrecks that sank during the Second World War. A lot of those ships are leaking oil,” Gordon said.

This was especially so around the Solomon and Pacific islands, where many Japanese and American vessels sank.

However, he said many of those Governments were taking action, unlike at home where the Government appeared to be dragging its heels.

“The interesting thing is the Niagara was the first ship sunk in the Pacific due to enemy action in World War II, long before these other ships and here it is, in our waters, and it’s still leaking oil and nothing is being done about it.

“Out of sight, out of mind,” he said.

Gordon indicated if the Niagara were to burst, the clean-up costs and environmental hurt could be worse than the Rena - a container ship that became grounded after it struck a reef off the coast of Tauranga in 2011. At the time, Rena was carrying 1733 tonnes of heavy fuel oil.

He claimed Maritime New Zealand in recent years had been allocating some of its budget toward completing a survey but kept getting “turned down”.

“There’s a lot of frustrated people.”

A Maritime NZ spokesman said that was incorrect.

He said Maritime previously developed a comprehensive business case that supported two budget bids but was declined because of funding pressures at the time.

“Any future survey would require approval of new funding.”

In the meantime, they maintain an Oil Spill Contingency Response Plan specifically for the Niagara. The last time they responded to an oil leak in the vicinity of the Niagara was in May 2019 but the spill dispersed naturally.

“There have also been a small number of other reports, that are in the vicinity of - and may be attributed to - the Niagara, but none of these have required oil spill response operations.”

Karina Cooper is deputy news director and covers breaking and general news for the Advocate. She also has a special interest in investigating what is behind the headlines and getting to heart of a story.