Work begins to free stranded Barrier Reef coal carrier - Summary

Sydney - Salvage crews began work Wednesday to free the coal carrier that ran aground at the weekend on the Great Barrier Reef and prompted a full-scale environmental crisis.

But as booms were put in place to prevent further leakage when fuel oil is pumped from the Shen Neng 1, Captain Wang Jichang caused outrage by belittling the danger to the world's largest reef system and Australia's foremost tourist attraction prompted by his poor seamanship.

Ren Gongping, the Chinese consul in Brisbane, told reporters that Wang had complained to him that salvors aboard the 230-meter vessel were using up its food and drinking water supplies.

"The leakage is not very serious so far," Ren told Brisbane's Courier Mail newspaper. "So far, he cannot see the oil on the sea."

Aerial shots clearly showed oil spewing from the vessel, which ploughed into the reef at full speed just hours after loading 65,000 tons of coal at Gladstone.

The Shen Neng 1 was illegally inside the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, prompting some to suggest Wang was trying to shave a few kilometers off the 6,400-kilometer trip back to China.

"If the Chinese crew are under any illusion that this is a minor incident, I'm sure that when they get off the boat and see what the world has to say, they'll understand a bit more clearly just how serious this is," Queensland state Premier Anna Bligh said.

She has promised to "throw the book" at Chinese shipping giant Cosco Group and bill the government-owned entity for the clean-up.

Pumping out the 950 tons of fuel oil would lighten the ship as well as preclude a nasty spill in the eventuality the battered ship would break apart during a salvage operation that might stretch into weeks.

"We have to prepare for the possibility that more oil may well escape," Bligh said.

Cosco, China's largest shipping company, has engaged Danish company Svitzer A/S to run the salvage operation.

Bligh warned Cosco of a 1-million-Australian-dollar (900,000-US-dollar) fine if it is found to be negligent. The ship's captain could be fined a further 220,000 Australian dollars if proved to be at fault.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who flew over the ship for a firsthand view of the accident, promised resolute action against those found to have put the world-famous reef at risk.

"This is absolutely outrageous how this could have happened," Rudd said. "Here you have this massive boat, this massive ship, ... off course, broad daylight, in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef. So we'll be demanding answers on this one."

Rudd promised to change the rules governing shipping around the more than 2,000-kilometer-long Great Barrier Reef because of the increased traffic from massive coal carriers like the Shen Neng 1.

"We are going to do this in a very considered way, given the fact that the Great Barrier Reef is too important for all of us to put at risk," he said, "so let's get the facts straight first and then act."

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said the Shen Neng 1 had not taken a shortcut when it ran aground. It said the route Wang had lodged for his trip and received approval for was outside the normal route but still within a designated Great Barrier Reef shipping lane.

His ship, however, was off course when it ran aground, and the authority had no explanation for why the ship had veered off course and struck the reef.

"It's outrageous that any vessel could find itself 12 kilometers off course in the Great Barrier Reef," the prime minister said.

Marine Safety Queensland general manager Patrick Quirk said the danger of the ship breaking up had receded but its engine room was flooded and its rudder damaged.

He told reporters the salvors had not decided whether taking off the coal would be needed to refloat the ship.

"They are going through the ship from the bow to the stern seeing what's damaged, seeing what's leaking," Quirk said. "They'll run through their calculations. That'll give them the structural strength of the vessel."

Low tides for the next two weeks could prevent the ship from being refloated, meaning it might be weeks before the ship gets off the reef.

Investigators piecing together what went wrong said human error rather than an attempt to take a short-cut might explain why the Shen Neng 1 ran aground.

Wang and his 23 crew are still aboard and have been interviewed. The captain has been asked why he was off course and why it took two hours to alert authorities to the grounding.

"Navigating a ship through this channel should not be rocket science," Quirk said. "Any competent crew should be able to do it."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/317442,work-begins-to-free-stranded-barrier-reef-coal-carrier--summary.html.