Total cost of sunken HMNZS Manawanui write-off revealed in Budget

Refer:   https://tinyurl.com/3c2wch44

A $77 million write-off of the navy ship Manawanui, which sunk off Samoa last October, is contained in the Budget papers on defence.

These also show $32m in costs booked in for 2024-25, for the clean-up, salvage, and “other remedial activities” at the shipwreck.

The dive-and-seafloor-survey ship, which the navy had had for five years, was insured for salvaging operations but not replacement.

It is not being replaced, and the Budget noted that its loss would reduce “warfare support” by the NZDF in coastal zones.

The decrease in the expected level of “readiness” for this type of support, which is set by the government, consequently, has dropped from 98% to 85%: “The decrease … is a result of the loss of the HMNZS Manawanui,” said the defence vote.