Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
A towing vessel has arrived at Carters Beach to assist with the recovery of the stranded Manahau.
The Niue-flagged barge ran aground at Carters Beach on the West Coast during bad weather late on Saturday evening.
A Westland Mineral Sands spokesperson said the offshore vessel MMA Vision arrived to assist the stranded barge around midday on Wednesday. It left New Plymouth yesterday afternoon.
A smaller tug, Kurutai, is enroute from Napier and will reach Westport later this evening.
All 11 crew remain safe and comfortable on board and have undergone welfare checks to ensure their wellbeing.
The vessel is stable, the hull and all tanks are intact, there are no leaks and there is no immediate risk to the environment, a spokesperson said.
"The weather is good, the tides are favourable and the specialist recovery team's plan to refloat Manahau is on track."
Westland Mineral Sands said it had engaged an independent expert to help understand how this incident occurred, and their investigation was well underway.
Maritime New Zealand said the stranded barge had some deficiencies when it was inspected upon arrival in New Zealand, but it did not believe they were factors in its grounding.
Maritime NZ national controller for the incident Andrew Saunderson said the Manahau was inspected when it first arrived in July, and it was detained until the deficiencies found by the authority were rectified by the operator.
Foreign flagged vessels do not require Maritime NZ's approval to come to New Zealand and operate here, but it is responsible for inspecting them.
A Maritime NZ investigation into the cause of the grounding is ongoing.
