Salvors could start pumping tonight in the only tank still holding oil on the stricken container ship Rena.
Three large pumps and about 150 metres of hose are now in place to extract the remaining 350 tonnes of oil.
Reasonable weather conditions are forecast and it will take about 100 hours to empty the tank.
Once all the oil is removed, Maritime New Zealand says it will start work on removing containers from the Rena.
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