A representative for the owners of the Rena is meeting with Bay of Plenty iwi and local dignitaries this week to apologise for the ship's grounding and subsequent oil spill.

Konstantinos Zacharatos, is a director for Costamare, a subsidiary of Daina Shipping who owns the Rena, is here to apologise for the ship's grounding on the Astrolabe Reef on October 5 last year.

Daina Shipping, owners of the Rena, representative Konstantinos Zacharatos is in Tauranga this week to apologise for the ship's grounding.

On Monday he met with local iwi at Whareroa Marae in Tauranga and spoke with representatives from Motiti and Matakana Island, and also visited the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, meeting with Mayor Ross Paterson and Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby.

'On behalf of Rena's owners, I am here to personally convey our deepest regret that such an event occurred,” says Konstantinos.

'In nearly 40 years of operations, our company has never had such an accident. I sincerely and unreservedly apologise for the actions of our staff and the damage caused.”

Konstantinos says he has come to recognise and thank the local community for their important role in minimising the consequences of the incident.

Konstantinos is accompanied by the senior claims manager of the Swedish Club, the insurers of the Rena, Captain John Owen.

'The location of the wreck makes this a complex and difficult operation,” says John.

'So we are taking a very careful and methodical approach.”

John says The Swedish Club has spent more than NZD$200million on the salvage and clean-up operation to the end of June, of which more than NZD$70 million had been spent locally.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council General Manager of Natural Resource Operations Warwick Murray met with Konstantinos on Monday where he says he apologised for the impact of the grounding on the Bay of Plenty community.

'Mr Zacharatos thanked the regional council for the significant support it provided to the response to the grounding of the Rena off the Tauranga coast,” says Warwick.

'He also acknowledged the disruption that the grounding had on Regional Council's staff and work.

Warwick says the company is committed to continuing with the wreck removal.

'They were keen to work cooperatively with us and the community to ensure that on-going impacts were minimized.”

Konstantinos will meet with other members of the Bay of Plenty community this week, including surf lifesavers.