Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) is still in no position to estimate how long it will take to remove all the containers and debris from the stricken wreck of the Rena.
Salvors removed eight-and-a-half containers from the aft section of the wreck over the weekend, taking the total number of containers lifted off the decks to 544. There were 1368 on the ship when it grounded on Astrolabe Reef off the Tauranga coast on October 5 last year.
The number of containers recovered from the sea and beaches remains at 70.
A MNZ spokeswoman told NZ Newswire container removal is moving at a good rate, but it's still not known how long it will take to clear the decks.
"We are problem solving every day. Every new part of the wreck that they work on, every new type of container they try and remove is its own different problem and requires different techniques to do it," she said.
Salvors are now cutting the containers into pieces, often emptying them of their contents first, so they can be removed.
"That's just going to be the way it works from now on, they're just going to have to continue with that until they get to the end point," the spokeswoman said.
Salvors also removed 53 large bags of lamb from formerly refrigerated containers over the weekend.
The spokeswoman said conditions aboard the Rena for the salvors, with the rotting food products, are "pretty grim".
The smells from the containers have been a feature of the salvage operation from the early stages, she said.
"Obviously it's months on, you're talking about very rotten content sometimes."
Containers packed with fish and animal hides had earlier been removed from the wreck.
Salvors are using protective gear and gas masks when needed and scientists are regularly on board monitoring gas levels, the spokeswoman said.
NZN