TWENTY-EIGHT more containers were recovered from the stricken 3,020-TEU Rena before heavy seas slowed and then stopped discharge operations as the ship lay aground on the Astrolabe Reef, North Island, New Zealand.

With container removal suspended, salvage crews focused on patches in the corridors of the wreck to improve buoyancy, thus buying more time for recovery of the remaining 1,087 boxes, reported London's Containerisation International.

The complex nature of the salvage operation has prompted a reported 80 per cent claim from cargo interests - significantly more than the 60 per cent demanded from the 2007 casualty MSC Napoli, said the report.