By 3 News online staff
Heavy rain and winds forecast over the weekend will likely delay container recovery from the Rena, says Maritime New Zealand.
So far 166 containers have been removed from the ship, but bad weather yesterday further hampered efforts.
Meanwhile, container processing onshore by contractors Braemar Howells is well underway, with 160 containers at the port.
Six containers, removed this week, are expected to arrive today and have their contents processed.
3 News reporter Rachel Morton is at the Truman Lane site where cargo is being unloaded and says the smell is “quite bad”.
The containers are opened and then lifted by crane so their contents can be tipped out and sorted. Precious cargo, however, is unloaded by hand.
In the meantime, the crane barge Sea Tow 60 sits sheltered in water near Motiti Island, waiting for clearer weather before returning to the Rena to continue container removal.
There were nearly 1300 containers on board the boat when it struck the reef in early October.
Maritime New Zealand says ongoing monitoring of the wreck shows no change in the Rena’s state.
3 News