Oil salvage total now 150,000 litres

Press, 2 June 1981, Page 6

Oil salvage total now 150,000 litres

PA Z Wellington A further 57,000 litres of fuel was discharged from the grounded freighter Pacific Charger yesterday, bringing the total removed since Saturday to 150,000 litres. A ..British Petroleum spokesman said last evening that the pumping was slow because the fuel was extremely difficult to find. A fire brigade spokesman, Mr St. Bishop, said that despite minor problems, brigade officers were doing a tremendous job. “You have got to be there to see where they are placing these, pumps,”, he said. "They have to enter .the ballast tanks, which have very small openings, and then climb down 10m to the bottom of the ship, with the waves pounding away/’ Divers who are surveying the hull of the Pacific Charger say that only a small amount of bunker oil has been leaked.The lead diver, Mr W.

Bullock, of Wellington, said yesterday that pollution was very slight. “I think it will stay that way.” he said. "A lot‘of oil has been taken off. “When you think what could have happened, with 800 tonnes of oil on the ship to start with, it is pretty amazing that so little has been lost.” Mr Bullock and four other divers are surveying the hull and surrounding rocks over which, the salvage firm,. Selco, hopes to pull the ship. Big swells and dirty water from the causeway work have so far prevented checks on .the size and number of holes in the ship and a survey of the reef. “We all know roughly where the reef and rocks are,” Mr Bullock said. “We would have liked to have done more dives, but the water is so black that you can’t even read a compass.” Much of their Work has been on board the ship. They

have made dives into ballast tanks, which hold water to steady the ship, to open and close valves, man pumps and seal off connecting pipes. “We are getting as much done as soon as we can in case there is a storm,” Mr Bullock said.

“We are all learning a lot. It is not often that you get a job like this one.” The president of the Seamen’s Union (Mr D. Morgan) said yesterday that the union wanted the Government to hold a public inquiry into the grounding of the Pacific Charger. This had been done when the Wahine sank. The union was concerned that details of the grounding might not be given proper public scrutiny, Mr Morgan said. The union had also asked the New Zealand agents bf Selco to employ New Zealand seamen for all the supernumerary seafarers’ work on board the vessel and the salvage boats'.