Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
The Defence Minister is staying tight-lipped on what insurance coverage the ill-fated HMNZS Manawanui has.
The $100 million specialist survey ship hit a reef on Saturday night and sank Sunday morning off the southern coast of Upolu.
The 75 people who were on board were first evacuated onto life rafts, before being taken ashore by rescuers.
Naval ships don't have replacement insurance, Judith Collins told Morning Report.
"Never have had...There are some things around insurance but I cannot go into that for the very sensible reasons for anybody who has ever dealth with insurance companies, you have to be veyr careful and therefore I'm not going to go into it."
If they did, the minister said they would have massive premiums.
"They go into places that are uninsurable."
Collins said the government needed to look at whether the ship would be replaced.
The HMNZS Manawanui, aground in Samoa. Photo: Profile Boats / supplied
It was now focused on the environmental effects of the Manawanui's sinking and its salvage operation, Collins said.
New Zealand will have to front up financially if there's a serious oil spill, she said.
"There's obviously issues around commerical issues that I need to be very aware of and very sensitive around and the fact is, is that clearly New Zealand is going to do everything that we can."
Samoa acting Prime Minister Tuala Iosefo Ponifasio said an oil spill from the ship was likely.
Samoan authorities were doing an environmental impact assessment, he said.
The salvage and assessing the environmental impacts of the sinking were now the big focus, Collins said.
"There's a lot of fuel on that ship, partly this (the environmental impact) is going to depend I'm told on what is the state of the bottom of the ocean at that point, whether it's sand or whether it's rocky or whatever.
"But clearly New Zealand is standing ready to work with Samoa on this and I know that there will be discussions going on with those that are operationally involved as to what we can do."
It was unclear if the ship could be taken off the reef, she said.
"That's because they were dealing with high seas, they were dealing with a reef that has changed, and people should also remember, this reef hasn't been surveyed since 1987 and since then there have been earthquakes, there's been tsunamis, there's been changes to that reef and that's why that survey was taking place."
Maritime New Zealand was ready to assist "but they do need to work with the Samoan government because after all this is Samoan territory, it's not ours".
"We're looking at salvage as opposed to saving...and it depends on what depth of water that the ship is in, and we haven't got that information yet."
"We need to make sure we do everything we can around the environmental side," she told Morning Report.
"We'll probably also be using drones as well because of course we have that sort of technology to get right in to see what we can see."
A spill kit had been sent over but Martime NZ has special spill equipment and NIWA has mapping capability, she said.
The air force sent its newest Hercules plane to Apia just after 7pm Sunday, carrying medical and welfare personnel, along with light clean-up equipment.
Passengers and crew would begin to head back to New Zealand Monday, she said.
"I think really they'll be pretty shocked.
"Yesterday I was told that they were in a felling of almost relief and almost euphoria given what they had been through and that they had survived it."
Collins told First Up a Court of Inquiry was being arranged by the Chief of Navy and will start gathering evidence - of which she says there will be a tremendous amount.
"And they will work out how it is that this happened, how the ship ended up grounded on a reef outside, on Uplou and then what happened from then on."
Collins said she has been told it will take weeks to complete, but it could to months if it was particularly complex.
Labour's defence spokesperson Peeni Henare told Morning Report New Zealand will have an important role in recovery our Pacific neighbours will be looking at how we can support in this.
