A Talley's-owned fishing vessel that caught fire early on Wednesday off the Canterbury coast, was on Saturday evening heading to its home port of Nelson under tow, a trip that will take about 48 hours.
Chief executive of Talley's Nelson, Tony Hazlett, says they'll spend the next week stripping out the damaged areas of Amaltal Columbia and assessing what repairs are needed.
He says Talley's has six other vessels in the fleet which can help pick up the slack while the work is carried out, and some of the crew have already been redeployed.
Forty-three crew on the New Zealand-registered trawler took to liferafts after the fire broke out in a hold in the early hours of Wednesday morning about 70km north-east of Lyttelton Heads.
Other trawlers, a helicopter and an Air Force Orion went to their rescue.
The vessel was towed, still burning, to Port Lyttelton.
The Transport Accident Commission completed its examination of Amaltal Columbia but expects its inquiry into the fire to take at least a year.
The inquiry will investigate the cause of the fire, identify any lessons that might prevent the chance of a similar event in future, and review the way the situation was handled on board and during the rescue and recovery operations.
