New Zealand First says the recent sinking of the Taharoa bouy to which giant iron sand ships regularly tie up to, shows an increasing potential for an environmental accident off the west coast of the North Island.
“Despite reassurances from Associate Transport Minister Craig Foss in March that the Taharoa buoy was safe, an incident at the buoy early this month indicates otherwise,” says New Zealand First conservation spokesperson Clayton Mitchell.
“We still have an old buoy not fit for the purpose used by iron sand carriers which the largest ships are visiting New Zealand,” says Mitchell.
“In this latest incident the two new 177,000-tonne iron sand carriers were held offshore, divers and support vessels were spotted, and eyewitnesses reported that the buoy appeared to have sunk,” he says.
“It is foolhardy of the Minister not to recognise the potential risk when these ships carry enough fuel to make a round trip to China. Any failure of the old buoy could mean another environmental disaster,” says Mitchell.
“A safety audit recommended replacing the buoy and telling us this will happen at the end of the year,” he says.
“This is not soon enough,” says Mitchell.
“New Zealand First is calling for a full investigation of this latest incident and the buoy replacement to be re-prioritised as urgent,” he says.
