History
WW2 shipwreck could trigger $200m oil spill cleanup
Documents reveal a World War II era shipwreck could trigger a $200 million oil spill clean up but the government is going against officials' advice to at least do a risk assessment survey.
In June 1940 the RMS Niagara was sailing out of Auckland for Vancouver, Canada, with 349 passengers and crew on board.
It was sunk by Germany in the Hauraki Gulf but decades later its oil has never been retrieved.
Maritime NZ had been recommended since 2019 to survey the Niagara shipwreck to work out how much oil is on it, but successive governments have declined.
New documents reveal it could cost $200 million to clean up an oil spill from the ship and it would cause widespread damage over a large area.
The papers show a two-part survey of the ship would cost just over $13.7 million.
Maritime NZ has said the costs are not insignificant but are "minimal compared with the potentially very high costs associated with a large oil spill".
Associate Transport Minister James Meager said there were no plans to survey the ship at this stage.
That's despite Maritime NZ having warned that if a major spill occurred the government would face criticism that with plenty of warning the environment had suffered negative effects.
Documents reveal a World War II era shipwreck could trigger a $200 million oil spill clean up but the government is going against officials' advice to at least do a risk assessment survey.
In June 1940 the RMS Niagara was sailing out of Auckland for Vancouver, Canada, with 349 passengers and crew on board.
It was sunk by Germany in the Hauraki Gulf but decades later its oil has never been retrieved.
