The first lot of fuel has been removed from New Zealand navy ship Manawanui which sank in October off the southwest coast of Upolu in Samoa.
The recovered fuel and pollutants are being offloaded in Apia and the barge has since returned to start the second cycle of fuel removal.
NZDF senior national representative for Operation Resolution Commodore Andrew Brown said the barge was expected to make a number of trips back to Apia to offload fuel.
"It's very pleasing to see that the recovery of fuel and other pollutants from Manawanui has progressed despite the impact of adverse weather conditions," he said in a statement.
The weather would influence the removal process, he said.
"This week the salvors were able to move the barge into the Port of Apia to offload tanktainers holding recovered fuel and other pollutants."
The tank containers or tanktainers are being securely stored at the port while disposal processes for the fuel and other pollutants are worked through, he said.
The salvors had been working through the technically challenging aspects of the operation to extract more fuel and other pollutants, he said.
Commodore Brown said it was good to see that the Samoan government had widened the area where fishing activities could take place due to the results of recent water testing.
A prohibited area of 2km around Manawanui remains in place during the fuel removal phase for safety reasons, he said.
