A freight ship anchored off Tauranga lost its rudder, Maritime NZ has confirmed.

The agency has issued a detention notice against the log-carrying vessel MV Achilles Bulker, which encountered steering problems when it departed Tauranga bound for China on July 24.

It was subsequently determined that the rudder had disconnected from the Panamanian-flagged ship during the outbound pilotage, Maritime NZ said in a statement.

“The vessel remains anchored off Mount Maunganui and the rudder was recovered by divers last week and brought to shore.

“The detention notice means the vessel is prohibited from leaving Tauranga until the certain conditions have been satisfied,” the statement said.

The Achilles Bulker is anchored off the coast of Mount Maunganui.

Due to the rudder failure, the Achilles Bulker will need to be towed to a dry dock for repairs and the owners of the vessel were responsible for managing the towage process.

Maritime NZ said it was working closely with the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and the Port of Tauranga on the arrangements to bring the vessel back into Tauranga to remove the cargo of logs before it can be towed.

Maritime NZ has started an investigation into the rudder failure.

Bay of Plenty harbourmaster Jon Jon Peters had imposed a 50-meter exclusion zone around the ship, which is safely anchored about 6.5km off the coast of Mount Maunganui beach.

The exclusion zone would remain in place while the vessel was anchored for the safety of boaties.

Peters said there were no safety concerns regarding the situation, and there was no impact on shipping traffic or marine life.