Rena

Meanwhile the Rena has held together overnight, despite fears the stricken container ship was finally about to break.

Officials had been nervously watching Rena's deteriorating condition and last night expecting the worst - Transport Minister Steven Joyce put the odds of the ship smashing apart amid foul weather as "greater than 50/50".

A storm enveloping the already battered cargo vessel was forecast to have brought swells of up to 5m overnight, prompting fresh warnings of oil spills and more lost containers.

Source: nzherald.co.nz