A second tug, the Kurutai, had joined the MMA Vision in Westport, a WMS spokeswoman said.
A Blackhawk helicopter arrived about 12.30pm to help connect a towline as required.
“The vessel is stable, the hull is intact, there are no leaks and there is no immediate risk to the environment,” the spokeswoman said. “She has not drifted any further along the beach.”
When the salvage happened would depend on suitable conditions and preparations and precautions being completed to the satisfaction of the salvage master and Maritime New Zealand (MNZ), she said.
MNZ’s national on scene commander Mick Courtnell said safety was the salvage master’s top priority in terms of deciding when to attempt to refloat the barge.
“We are getting constant updates around the recovery plans,” he said.
Meanwhile the barge is being held on Carters Beach by its own buried anchors and seven five-tonne concrete blocks. The anchors didn’t stop it moving significantly in high seas yesterday.
A former Westport harbourmaster, David Barnes, said the swells were too large today and he doubted conditions would be favourable tomorrow.
He said there were two major hurdles for the refloat: two big sandbars parallel to the beach and the littoral drift pushing the barge towards the tiphead.
“They think it’s going to go straight out, but the current gets hold of it and takes it down to the tiphead.”
Also big tides begin to decrease from the weekend, meaning less water around the stranded 98m barge at high tide.
Mr Barnes said the 1000m-long tow wire aboard the MMA Vision would be too heavy for a helicopter to carry. The other option would be a light dyneema rope – the world’s strongest fibre rope.
“A thousand metres of dyneema would be no problem.”
MNZ yesterday extended the public exclusion zone, keeping locals hundreds of metres away from the salvage site. MNZ refused an application from The News for media access. The News asked MNZ to reconsider but had had no response by publication today.
The exclusion zone now includes the area from the intersection of Golf Links Road and Marine Parade, including access to the beach, north-east along the grassed area of Marine Parade to the airport boundary, then along Rotary Road to Tiphead Road, then north to the end of Tiphead Road.
The exclusion zone includes land, beach and sea from mean high water springs out to one nautical mile. It excludes the airport land and the Carters Beach tiphead.
Golfers are allowed access to the Westport Golf Club, as long as they are in cars (not on foot).
Article Written By Lee Scanlon / Westport News
Originally published in the Westport News | Reproduced with approval
