More than 1,000 containers recovered

More than 1,000 containers have been recovered from the Rena wreck.

Braemar Howells/Unimar recovery teams this week reached the milestone of 1003 recovered containers.

Meanwhile 365 containers remain around the wreck site or in the submerged stern section of the ship.

Braemar operations manager Mike Richards said the milestone of recovering 1,000 containers was reached after the positive identification of more container parts hauled up from the seabed at the wreck site.

"We take our hats off to all those involved in the ongoing joint recovery effort - from the salvors, Braemar and Unimar
staff, to Maritime New Zealand, support services companies, and many others.''

"The work of identifying containers from numbers on scrap recovered has been a huge behind-the-scenes task and has been carried out by specialists in distressed cargo,'' he said.

At sea, salvage experts Resolve Salvage and Fire have made progress reducing the bow section, with more than 140 tonnes of steel removed over the past seven days.

The combined weight of steel removed from the wreck is approximately 575 tonnes.

A specialised crane barge is expected to assist in steel removal next week.

The RMG 280 crane barge can raise pieces of steel weighing up to 40 tonnes.

Meanwhile specialist salvage divers from America will take to the water next week, working in tandem with the crane barge.

Helicopter salvage work will continue alongside the underwater operations.

The Braemar Howells/Unimar recovery teams have recovered tonnes of scrap metal from the wreck site.

On Wednesday, 40 tonnes of debris including aluminium ingots and coils of heavy gauge wire was unloaded from the recovery vessel Tasman Challenger. The vessel has now unloaded a total of 76 tonnes in three loads.

On-shore recovery teams are continuing to remove plastic beads from Matakana Island.

A two mile exclusion zone remains around the Rena wreck.