For 30 years, officials and politicians have been warned about an oil-laden shipwreck on the brink of causing the country’s worst environmental disaster. For years, they’ve been ignoring the risk.

For 83 years, the steel encasing the RMS Niagara’s fuel tanks have been gnawed at to the point their collapse is imminent, oil leaking from the hulk with a putrid film floating on the surface above it.

With this comes the risk of its oil spilling and coating areas including the Poor Knights and Goat Island marine reserves; Little Barrier Island, and Hen and Chicken Islands nature reserves; and even Great Barrier and Waiheke Islands

In addition, the long-term cost to wildlife, tourism, the local economy, and our environmental reputation would be incalculable.

It isn’t a case of if, but when, the Niagara collapses, releasing its oil into a major shipping lane, precious marine areas, and Northland’s coastline. A large-scale release of oil would spread widely in the area, and potentially severely impact marine wildlife, including important seabird species.

Of major concern is the effect on the critically endangered fairy tern, which has a population of around 40. Three of its four breeding areas would be threatened by an oil spill.

Its suggested some protection measures, like booms, could be ineffective and some of the shorelines would be challenging to clear up without causing significant damage.

For comparison, 333 tonnes of oil washed ashore when the Rena hit a reef near Tauranga in 2011. It cost around $47 million just for the cleanup.

A 2018 report estimated the direct cost of an oil spill from the Niagara could be as high as $108 million, depending on how much oil was on board.

Even Maritime NZ  was clear about the environmental risk: “As a heavy fuel oil, the oil will be challenging to clean up, resistant to dispersant, and slow to break down.

It’s the government’s responsibility to deal with the Niagara, and it has resources, like the Navy, that could help.

 Experts agree the work is entirely feasible, and could be done for under $5 million.

Associate transport minister Kiritapu Allan has responsibility for the Niagara shipwreck. Allan is showing less interest in dealing with the Niagara than her predecessors.

While previous ministers wanted answers to the most basic questions – how much oil is on board, and what is the risk of it spilling – Allan doesn’t even support a preliminary survey of the wreck to find these answers, and hasn’t made a new budget bid.

A Little Bit of History 

The passenger liner Niagara sunk by German mines off Northland’s east coast in 1940. Inside, it was luxurious, and once held speed records for crossing the Tasman Sea.
In June 1940, a German raider, the Orion, snuck into New Zealand waters, and laid more than 200 mines across the Hauraki Gulf’s entrance in an attempt to blockade Auckland.

Four days later, the Niagara, struck one of the mines and sank quickly, about 30km offshore, 40km southeast of Whāngārei, inside today’s Hauraki Gulf Marine Park. All 349 passengers and crew survived, but the cargo, including 590 gold bars en route to pay America, disappeared in 120m of water.

Nearly all the gold was eventually recovered. However, the less alluring but more sinister cargo, fuel, remained ignored over the following decades.

In the 1990s, fears began to be raised about oil leaking from the Niagara and causing slicks in one of the country’s most spectacular marine areas.

But Maritime New Zealand, which has responsibility for the wreck, rejected concerns, ignoring firsthand reports of leaks, it argued the oil had virtually solidified in the cold temperatures below 100m, or had dissipated.

In 2005, while claiming incorrectly that the wreck had almost disintegrated, a Maritime NZ spokesperson put the threat to the environment as “very low-key, if at all”. Maritime NZ admitted it hadn’t examined the wreck, and actually had no idea how much oil remained on board.

The Niagara had capacity for over 4300 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, and likely had close to that when it left Auckland, some of which spilt when it sank, covering local beaches.

More was discharged when salvage crews recovering the gold used explosives to access the strongroom.

By 2018, with concerns about the Niagara not going away, Maritime NZ commissioned reports on the risk of an oil spill.  No physical work was done to ascertain what oil remained on board, simply using estimates from New Zealand shipwreck experts that there could be 1600 tonnes. In September 2018, a Maritime NZ report to associate transport minister Julie Anne Genter and conservation minister Eugenie Sage recommended a comprehensive underwater survey and environmental risk analysis be carried out

Northlands Coast needs your Help

We need to put pressure on the Govement, Maritime NZ and Associate transport minister Kiritapu Allan to take action before it it too late.

The Government doesn’t want to disturb the wreck ignoring major structural damage from two salvage operations; storms, earthquakes; and fishing trawlers. When it comes to the ocean, all successive governments have been appalling, Because if you can’t see it – out of sight, out of mind. The blinkers needed to be ripped off the government and its agencies, so they can start seeing the Niagara problem for what it is.

We’re right on the brink of what could be our worst ever environmental disaster.