The damage from a 'sail-by' sequence shows the hatch covers lost or being dislodged from below by the containers in the hold. This could either be as a consequence of the natural buoyancy of the containers in the flooded hold or the container stack being set up by damage to the ship's double bottom on the reef.
The starboard hatch pontoon on Bay 5 is missing, Bay 8 pontoon set up
Closeup of the set up Bay 8 hatch pontoon.
Comments to the blog have questioned whether Rena can be salvaged. If the aft part can be successfully lightened and refloated, the Antipodean Mariner speculates that no Port Company in New Zealand would risk having their channel (or a berth) blocked by the hulk and will refuse to permit entry.
If the hulk can be made safe for towing to China or the Indian sub-continent for demolition, at a scrap price of about $450 per tonne and maybe 10,000 tonnes of steel in the aft end there is maybe $4.0-$4.5M on offer. However, this has been factored against the cost and risk of a 30+ day tow past highly risk averse maritime neighbours. The AM's punt is that Rena's remains, if refloated, will be towed out past the Continental Shelf and scuttled.
The Antipodean Mariner
