• The HMNZS Manawanui incident response, Operation Resolution, will be shifting into the next phase of fuel removal when the contract between the New Zealand Defence Force and the salvor is finalised.
• Meanwhile, mitigation of any potential environmental impacts through on-going monitoring and surveillance of the ship and site continue on a daily basis. The main fuel tanks on Manawanui remain intact.
• The New Zealand Defence Force Senior National Representative for Operation Resolution, Commodore Andrew Brown, said: “Once the fuel removal contract has been finalised, the salvor will be mobilising equipment and personnel to Samoa to remove the fuel and other pollutants from the ship.”
• “This is the next phase of operations – the complex task of fuel removal from the ship.”
• Commodore Brown said Samoan authorities had endorsed the updated methodology for the removal of fuel ahead of the contract being signed.
• A Task Group, made up of members of the Royal New Zealand Navy, is in Samoa assigned to Operation Resolution for the next stage of removing fuel from the ship.
• “The New Zealand Defence Force will maintain an appropriate presence in Samoa until all aspects of the recovery operation have been completed,” Commodore Brown said.

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