The ship, which had only visited Port Chalmers once in November 2013 to load logs, was headed north from Tauranga about noon yesterday, according to ship tracking websites.
The Ministry for Primary Industries ordered the Panama-registered DL Marigold from New Zealand after MPI divers discovered dense fouling of barnacles and tube worms on the ship's hull and other underwater surfaces.
MPI's border clearance director Steve Gilbert said it was the first time MPI had ordered an international vessel to leave a New Zealand port for biofouling reasons, describing it as a ''severe contamination'' issue.
''The longer the vessel stayed in New Zealand, the greater chance there was for unwanted marine species to spawn or break away from the ship,'' he said.
From May next year, new rules will require all international vessels to arrive in New Zealand with a clean hull.
The DL Marigold arrived in Tauranga from Indonesia on March 4 to unload palm kernel, and would have been in New Zealand waters for nine days. MPI understood the vessel would go to Fiji for cleaning, then return to finish unloading the remaining palm kernel.
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Great to see that in the interests of New Zealand's clean green image, MPI are encouraging the destruction of Fiji's image.
If this ship and others can't be cleaned in NZ waters are MPI suggesting that no contamination occurs here? NZ couldn't have a ship cleaning industry? The policy seems to be very short sighted.