340,000 Liters of Liquid Removed from the sunken HMNZS Manawanui

By Lagi Keresoma/

Apia, Samoa – 6 February 2025 – The latest update on salvage work at the sunken HMNZS Manawanui recorded 340,000 litres of liquid recovered from the vessel.

“Of this we estimate 320,000 litres of diesel fuel mix has been recovered from the ships diesel fuel tanks,” said Commodore Andrew Brown the NZ Defence Force.

He said the liquid is a mixture of diesel fuel and seawater and that volumes recorded on the barge can fluctuate as liquids including fuels are subject to expansion and contraction with heat.

“The amount of diesel fuel in the liquid recovered won’t be known until the liquid is processed, although the majority of the volume of liquid recovered so far is assessed to be diesel fuel,” he said.

He also confirmed that the liquids from the diesel fuel tanks, 18,000 litres of lubricating oil from oil storage tanks from the ship were recovered.

There are 54 tanks of various sizes on the ship, and some contain diesel fuel, some lubricating oil, and some water, wastewater (or greywater), and bilge water.

He believes a milestone has been reached with the salvors barge making returns to and from Apia to unload tanktainers of liquid successfully completing the second cycle of the work within 17 days.

What’s next for Manawanui
As work to remove liquids from the ship continues, the question remains for the fate of ship.

“The Samoan and New Zealand Governments are working closely together to identify what these next steps are,” said Commodore Brown.

In the meantime, he said the New Zealand Defence Force and the salvors maintain an absolute focus on protecting coastal and marine environments.

“As we progress toward the completion of the diesel fuel and other pollutants removal, it is extremely important we remain focussed on doing a careful and thorough job and New Zealand remains absolutely committed to doing the right thing,” he said.