The prospect of clearing all the heavy fuel oil from the grounded Rena container vessel and saving further beach spills has increased after the salvage team made strong progress over the last day.
With the sea near calm in sunny weather around Astrolabe Reef - and likely to stay that way for the next six days - the salvors had this afternoon pumped nearly half the oil onboard the Rena to the waiting barge, Awanuia.
A total of 645 tonnes of oil had been taken off, leaving 700 tonnes to go out of the original load of 1700 tonnes. Early in the salvage operation, 355 tonnes of the oil spilled into the sea and onto Western Bay beaches.
The main rear port tank holding 772 tonnes was nearly cleared. And the salvage team was pumping from the settling tanks in the engine room and transferring the 220 tonnes of oil to the rear tank, and then onto the Awanuia.
"The good piece of news is that we have started on the second main source of oil and the divers are operating in murky corridor spaces. These guys are tough,'' said Maritime New Zealand salvage unit manager, Bruce Anderson.
He said earlier today two booster pumps installed on Sunday afternoon had sped up the pumping rate from the port tank, and the salvage teams were continuing to work on ways to extract oil from the submerged starboard tank and two settling tanks in the engine room.
The salvors loaded more equipment on the ship yesterday afternoon, including a lighting system.
"This is important, because they have been working in dark, oily corridors, which is clearly risky and challenging,'' he said.
"The lighting will make the working environment safer for the teams on board. They have also loaded heavy duty compressors to aid the pumping system.''
Maritime NZ's on scene commander, Rob Service, said there had been no significant release of oil from the Rena today and his team was tracking the five to 10 tonnes that escaped on Saturday.
The oil was heading north towards Mayor Island and the Coromandel, and it could reach the shoreline south of Whangamata.
"The oil would be in the water for five to six days and it will be broken up into small patties and tarballs,'' Mr Service said.
Little blue penguins affected by the Rena oil spill will soon have a new home in which to recover and rebuild their strength.
A new enclosure at the wildlife response centre at Te Maunga is close to completion, with builders aiming to finish three of the planned 10 aviaries this afternoon.
About 25 penguins can be housed in each aviary, which will have indoor pools and communal areas for the penguins to preen, feed and swim.
Oiled wildlife response manager Kerri Morgan said the enclosures would be able to house the 314 penguins in the centre's care more comfortably in the long term.
"It is too early at the moment to say when they can be released, but we want to ensure all the penguins are healthy and well nourished before this takes place.''
The penguins are fed carefully twice a day, eating five to seven fish per feeding.
"We use either sprats or anchovies and need to ensure that none of the natural oils from the fish get on the birds' feathers as this can damage their natural waterproofing,'' Ms Morgan said.
"The penguins are all doing really well and have a great fighting spirit.''
The penguins have one swim a day to let them condition and preen their feathers, which is crucial to re-waterproofing.
The centre had a total of 379 live birds in its care this morning.
Clean birds included 60 New Zealand dotterels caught pre-emptively, one shearwater, one tern, three pied shags and 206 little blue penguins.
There were also 108 oiled little blue penguins in the centre's care.
The number of dead birds was at 1370 last night, with post-mortem examinations being carried out to determine if oiling was the cause of death.
Wildlife response teams have been sent to assess how best to protect wildlife on Tuhua/Mayor Island, where the five to 10 tonnes of oil that spilled from the Rena on Saturday was forecast to head later this week.
Victim Support are on standby, should the Rena owners deliver bad news to those with containers full of treasured belongings on board.
Inspector Karl Wright-St Clair said he had contacted MSC (Mediterranean Ship Company), which leased the Rena, and offered the service should staff need to break bad news to their clients.
