The only specialised marine publication in Oceania that focuses on the maritime industry, from super yachts to small craft to large commercial ships, including coastal shipping, tugs, tow boats, barges, ferries, tourist, sport-fishing craft
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OCEANS Radiance of the Seas The Sea Tow 60 was also in port and the anchor-handling tug Go Canopus remained attached to the Rena. Maritime New Zealand said the rough weather resulted in the release of a small amount of weathered oil from under the wreck on the night of December 3. This might result in some light oiling reaching beaches between Papamoa and Mount Maunganui and sticky tar balls have reached the shore, along with some debris from containers. Clean-up crews were working at Mount Maunganui, Papamoa and Matakana Island. SANFORD'S FACES FINES FOR DUMPING OIL WASTE CRUISE SHIP SQUEEZES OUT CABLE LAYER Royal Caribbeans's Radiance of the Seas, launched in 2001, eases away from her berth at Wynyard Wharf at the end of her maiden call in Auckland en-route to Sydney. The 90090gt cruise ship dwarfed the French-flagged cable layer Ile de Re, which was in port until October 28. The cable ship had to move to a mid-harbour mooring to make room for the Radiance of the Seas to take bunkers. Ports of Auckland's bunkering vessel Awanuia normally provides these services, but she was in Tauranga assisting with salvage operations on the stricken tanker Rena. CRANE BARGE PREPARED FOR RENA As of December 5, two months after she went aground on Astrolabe Reef off Tauranga, the container ship Rena was still intact after a weekend of stormy weather. Electronic sensors monitoring the wreck indicated some extra movement during the swells, but nothing untoward. Salvage teams resumed work on installing patches in the passages on the ship to improve her buoyancy. No containers were taken off over the weekend due to the high swells and work was not expected to resume until the weather cleared mid-week. A total of 167 containers have been removed as of December 5. There were 1368 containers on board when she ran aground and an estimated 87 were washed overboard on October 12, leaving 1114 on board. The crane barge Smit Borneo has arrived from Singapore and remained in port for several days while she was prepared, ready to remove containers. A federal grand jury in the United States has lodged seven charges against Sanford Limited under United States' anti- pollution laws. The New Zealand fishing company is accused of violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, as well as conspiracy and obstruction of justice related to accusations it has been illegally dumping oily bilge waste at sea. The indictment says Sanford operates the fishing vessel San Nikunau, which delivers tuna to a cannery in American Samoa and has been routinely dumping bilge oil since at least 2007. Sanford is also charged with failing to accurately maintain an oil record book for the vessel, obstruction of justice for presenting false documents and deceiving the United States Coast Guard during an inspection. If convicted, Sanford could be fined up to $US500,000 on each charge, or a total of $3.5 million, with the indictment also seeking criminal forfeiture of more than $24 million. The San Nikunau was detained by United States authorities in American Samoa's capital, Pago Pago but was released under bond. Sanford said the claims were being dealt with through lawyers appointed by the insurers, and insurance would cover the legal costs of the investigations and defending any charges. Managing director Eric Barratt said the San Nikunau was probably worth NZ$20-25 million. "We have confidence that we have not incurred anything or done anything that they allege is improper but we have a great deal of difficulty persuading them of that," Barratt said. The company said it took its responsibilities seriously, ''and would never permit discharges of pollutants into the ocean and nor would we obstruct any reasonable investigation into any allegations made against the company.'' Sanford operates three tuna purse seiners in the Pacific. Svitzer's ocean tug the Singapore leaves Singapore with the crane barge Smit Borneo to assist the salvage of the Rena. 72 Professional Skipper January/February 2012 The 110.3m dumb barge Smit Borneo has 12 ballast tanks, an eight-point mooring system, a 500 tonne Liebherr pedestal crane and a long-reach mobile crane. The white accommodation block has a helipad on the top