Maea

30/04/09

MAEA which has been anchored in Wellington Harbour for the past week. She arrived from Dunedin on 20 April and loaded bunker oil at Aotea Quay. It then went out to the anchorage to wait for its next cargo. It is presently scheduled to sail on 4 May for Westernport, Australia, to load LPG.
She is a regular visitor to New Plymouth, Dunedin and Onehunga with LPG.
She is empty of LPG (all discharged in Dunedin) but is not "gasfree", but LPG tanks are always sealed-units).
Reason for calling at Wellington is that:
A) stocks of fuel oil bunkers are now unavailable at some NZ ports such as Dunedin, Lyttelton and Napier, so come to Wellington for it
B) NZ Biosecurity have implemented a policy of not permitting vessels to anchor and wait around the NZ coast, only to anchor in "proper" port anchorages.
LPG ships used to anchor off D'Urville Island, but NZ Biosecurity stopped that.
MAEA 3,759 gross tonnage, built 2005 Panama flag Oceangas Services, Australia