By Lee Scanlon of 
The barge Manahau pictured from the Westport Airport seawall. Photo: Lee Scanlon / Westport News
Hopes of a Manahau barge refloat from Westport's Carters Beach at the midday high tide have come to nothing.
Barge owner Westland Mineral Sands (WMS) said a specialist recovery team had made good progress overnight and was spending the day on refloat preparations.
A second tug, the Kurutai, had joined the MMA Vision in Westport, a WMS spokeswoman said.
A Blackhawk helicopter arrived about 12.30pm on Thursday to help connect a towline as required.
"The vessel is stable, the hull is intact, there are no leaks and there is no immediate risk to the environment," the spokeswoman said. "She has not drifted any further along the beach."
When the salvage happened would depend on suitable conditions and preparations and precautions being completed to the satisfaction of the salvage master and Maritime New Zealand (MNZ), she said.
MNZ national on scene commander Mick Courtnell said safety was the salvage master's top priority in terms of deciding when to attempt to refloat the barge.
"We are getting constant updates around the recovery plans," he said.
The 98m barge beached during a thunderstorm on Saturday night. Its 11 crew members remained safe on board.
The Manahau is being held on Carters Beach by its own buried anchors and seven five-tonne concrete blocks.
A former Westport harbourmaster, David Barnes, said the swells were too large for salvage today and he doubted conditions would be favourable tomorrow.
He said there were two major hurdles for the refloat: two big sandbars parallel to the beach and the littoral drift pushing the barge towards the Westport breakwater.
"They think it's going to go straight out, but the current gets hold of it and takes it down to the tiphead."
Also big tides begin to decrease from the weekend, meaning less water around the stranded barge at high tide.
Barnes said the 1000m-long tow wire aboard the MMA Vision would be too heavy for a helicopter to carry. The other option would be a light dyneema rope - the world's strongest fibre rope.
"A thousand metres of dyneema would be no problem."
MNZ yesterday extended the public exclusion zone, keeping locals hundreds of metres away from the salvage site. MNZ refused an application from The Westport News for media access.
