• New Zealand and Samoan teams worked from early Saturday late into the night to remove an empty shipping container from the reef, after it and two others came off the sunken Royal New Zealand Navy ship HMNZS Manawanui two weeks ago.
• Of the three shipping containers, two are empty and one is carrying 3000kg of food. The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) is working with a local contractor, ARK Marine, to remove these containers from the reef off the south-west coast of Upolu.
• “This is challenging work, and yesterday the teams did a great job,” NZDF Senior National Representative Commodore Andrew Brown says.
• “We are continuing with the container removal over the next few days, making sure that we are keeping people safe and with the protection of the environment in mind.”
• The three 10ft containers are being floated and then towed to shore.
• Commodore Brown says the work is being carried out under the direct supervision of the Samoan authorities.
• This week, activity will be scaled down to avoid disrupting CHOGM, but both the removal of the containers and monitoring of the vessel and shoreline will continue, he says.

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