Maritime New Zealand is hoping the weather in Tauranga will be clear enough to send up a plane this morning to check the damage to Rena overnight after heavy swells began pounding the stricken container ship yesterday.
Rough seas with swells of up to 7m yesterday further damaged the cargo vessel, which ran aground on Astrolabe Reef on the Bay of Plenty Coast last October before breaking apart in bad weather earlier this year.
National on-scene commander Rob Service said yesterday a small amount of oil had been seen in the immediate vicinity of the wreck.
"There is only a small amount of oil remaining on the wreck but, as we saw last week, even a small release can result in patches of oil reaching the shoreline,'' he said.
Trajectory modelling showed the oil could reach the Coromandel shoreline overnight. That could result in a light sprinkling of oil between Whiritoa and Whitianga.
The total amount of oil left on the Rena was in the tens of tonnes _ far less than the amount released during the big spill in October _ and it was very unlikely it would all be released in one event.
The rough seas have also forced open a hatch on the bow section, releasing an estimated 10 containers from the hold.
A Maritime New Zealand spokeswoman said this morning the plan was to get a flight up today to check how severe the damage was to Rena overnight, "weather conditions permitting''.
It would not be known until the flight got up whether any more oil had leaked, or how damaged the ship was, she said.
Heavy seas were forecast to ease today.
WeatherWatch head weather analyst Philip Duncan said yesterday the biggest swells from a tropical storm north of New Zealand were to arrive in the Bay of Plenty last night and early this morning.
Mr Duncan advised people to stay out of the sea for today and tomorrow as big swells, gales and rain moved in.
