Rainbow Warrior Arrives in Taranaki

["greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

RAINBOW WARRIOR ARRIVES IN TARANAKI

New Plymouth, Tuesday 9 March 1998 -- The Greenpeace flagship,
SV  Rainbow Warrior, arrived in the Port of Taranaki, New
Plymouth, today  beginning a six week tour to raise
environmental awareness in New Zealand.

The ship was welcomed by Her Worship the Mayor, Claire Stewart,
who  said that "The Rainbow Warrior and Greenpeace have been
extremely  influential in New Zealand... Greenpeace often pushes
the boundaries  but it was a good and necessary challenge." She
also welcomed  Greenpeace's decision to invite Fletcher
Challenge Energy's Taranaki  General Manager Geoff Logan to
discuss climate change and oil  exploration on board the Rainbow
Warrior at 8pm tonight.

The captain of the ship, Derek Nichols, said that it was good
for the  Rainbow Warrior to be back in New Zealand because New
Zealand is seen  as the ship's homeport, and emphasised the
importance of  the ship's work to protect the climate from
global warming by  campaigning to stop new oil exploration.

New Plymouth is the first stop in Greenpeace's "Get Green" tour.
The  ship has sailed from Australia, where it spent five months 
campaigning against the over-fishing of Southern Bluefin Tuna
and the threat of new oil exploitation.

The ship will be open to the public on Saturday and Sunday
(March  14/15th) between 11am and 3pm at Breakwater Wharf No 2.
Because the  Rainbow Warrior is berthed in a commercial area
Greenpeace is a arranging transport from Ngamotu Bay to the
wharf for the public during  the open days.

Greenpeace on the Internet at http://www.greenpeace.org