Fouled ship ordered out of port

The DL Marigold was ordered out of Tauranga on Sunday. Photo: Supplied.

A ship ordered out of the Port of Tauranga on the weekend will have to have its hull cleared of marine growth before it can re-enter New Zealand waters.

The Ministry of Primary Industries ordered the DL Marigold to leave New Zealand within 24 hours on Sunday, following the discovery by MPI divers of a dense fouling of barnacles and tube worms on the bulk carrier's hull and other underwater surfaces.

"The longer the vessel stayed in New Zealand, the greater chance there was for unwanted marine species to spawn or break away from the ship. So we had to act quickly," says MPI's Border Clearance Director, Steve Gilbert,

The DL Marigold arrived in Tauranga from Indonesia on March 4, and was originally expected to remain in New Zealand waters for nine days.

MPI understands the vessel will be cleaned in Fiji, before returning to New Zealand to finish discharging a shipment of palm kernel expeller.

"The vessel won't be allowed back until it can provide proof it has been thoroughly cleaned," says Steve.

It is the first time MPI has ordered an international vessel to leave a New Zealand port for biofouling reasons.

"We were dealing with severe contamination in this case."

New rules will require all international vessels to arrive in New Zealand with a clean hull from May 2018.

During the interim period, MPI can take action in cases of severe biofouling.

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4 comments

Fiji

Posted on 07-03-2017 14:10 | By overit

Poor Fiji, I hope they have systems in place to save their waters.


golly gosh

Posted on 07-03-2017 15:22 | By old trucker

Surely they could have finished unloading, and then send it away,Surely,10-4 out.


Well spotted

Posted on 07-03-2017 16:10 | By peecee09

Well done. MPI keep up the good work. If it wasn't for the greed of dairy farmers and the importers of palm kernel bringing in multiple shiploads of this so called " supplementary " feed to feed grossly increased herd numbers that completely overtax the farmland and leach massive quantities of nitrogen and other minerals and chemicals into the environment and then into the waterways. A perfect situation to pollute and ruin what was once a stunningly beautiful environment. Shame on all you greed driven culprits who are responsible for this.


cows

Posted on 07-03-2017 18:23 | By dumbkof2

so peecee 0-9 wants to get rid of all the dairy heards. yes lets do that and import all our dairy products. well peecee09 hope you have plenty of money as the price of most food will double. think about it


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