The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (ASMA) has sent a ship to help minimise an oil spill from a bulk coal carrier that ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef off central Queensland.

The Chinese coal carrier, Shen Neng 1, hit Douglas Shoal at full speed east of Rockhampton at the weekend.

Coral shredded the port side of the ship, breaching the engine room and rupturing a fuel tank.

Authorities say several tonnes of oil leaked from the ship but has since been dispersed with chemicals.

The ship is laden with more than 60,000 tonnes of coal and almost 1,000 tonnes of fuel oil.

Today’s salvage operation will involve removing the remainder of the ship’s oil.

Authorities say it is unlikely the stricken ship will break up.

Tugboats are being used to stabilise the ship and maritime authorities will decide today when to remove the oil, which must go before any attempt is made to move the vessel.

Salvage crews are working on a plan to get the carrier off the shoal without causing too much more damage.

Dutch-based company Svitzer is handling the salvage operation and has flown in three planeloads of specialist equipment, including heavy duty pumps and compressors.

‘Risky exercise’

Officials hope the fuel transfer will begin either this afternoon or tomorrow while the weather is good, but Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has warned it will be a complex and risky exercise.

Ms Bligh says it could be one of the most difficult salvage operations in Australia’s history.

“We have to prepare for the possibility that more oil may well escape,” she said.

“That means that we have in cooperation with the councils along this shoreline a comprehensive civilian response should we have any further oil come out of the vessel and on to any of the shores.”

Removing the oil from the stricken carrier, however, is only the first part of the problem.

Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) spokesman Patrick Quirk says salvage experts are still considering what to do with the coal on board.

“They’re going through the ship from the bow to the stern seeing what’s damaged, seeing what’s leaking” he said.

“They’ll run that through their calculations. That’ll give them the structural strength of the vessel.

“That’ll allow us to know when she’s floating the stresses and strains on that ship and whether we need to take out cargo to ensure her safety.”

Coastline preparations

MSQ spokesman Mark Strong says the Pacific Responder tug will arrive this morning to help contain any spills during the salvage operation.

“The salvage crews will be attempting to remove the fuel oil from the vessel weather permitting,” he said.

“The decision then will be made about what else needs to be done to salvage the vessel.

“The Pacific Responder will help deploy booms to contain any oil that may spill during any transfer or salvage operation.”

Mr Strong says many of the problems expected soon after the incident have not eventuated.

“As things have turned out, things have gone well – the vessel is stabilised, there’s no further oil escaping,” he said.

“That doesn’t mean we don’t need to take all of the precautions you would when the vessel’s in such a sensitive environmental area, but so far things have been going well.”

A local disaster management group has been briefed this morning on what to do if oil from the ship reaches the coast.

Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter says the meeting is discussed precautionary measures.

“To make sure that if there is that remote chance of oil coming ashore, that we have everything in place to plan for that eventuality, should that occur,” he said.

Councillor Carter says he is relieved after having a first-hand look at the stranded coal ship.

He flew over the area yesterday and says there is no sign of an oil spill and the waters are very clean.

“One very pleasing thing was very close to the ship this very large turtle had come up out of the water – to see that there was fish life available in and around the ship – it was pleasing to see that,” he said.

“I did expect to see evidence of oil floating on the water but there was none.”

‘Better option’

However, maritime law expert at the University of Queensland, Professor Nick Gaskell, says refloating would be a better option because it is notoriously difficult to transfer cargoes like coal.

He also says the longer the ship is grounded, the greater the risk of it breaking up and polluting the pristine waters.

But Professor Gaskell says people can have confidence that the salvage experts will do everything they can to stop that happening.

“The salvors are on a no-cure, no-pay contract normally,” he said.

“That means if they fail to save the ship, they get nothing.

“They could work for four or five weeks, incur huge expenditure and get nothing.

“If they do succeed, then they will be given a reward based on the value of the property, the ship and the cargo and so on.

“So it’s very much in their interest to make sure that this ship gets off intact.”

Professor Gaskell says the state and federal governments need to oversee the salvage operation to ensure commercial interests do not come before the environment.

But he says the governments need to leave the highly technical issues to the experts and continue to resist media and political pressure to act hastily.

Investigation

Mr Quirk says investigations into the incident have been stepped up.

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

Authorities have boarded the Shen Neng 1 to interview the crew.

Environmentalists say it could take decades for coral under the stricken ship to recover.

Maritime authorities say the ship has moved between 20 and 30 metres since it ran aground.

World Wildlife Fund spokeswoman Gilly Llewellyn says a coral dust plume has formed in the water.

“To build up the structures – the kind of the fragile branching, the kind of the dome-shaped corals – that intricate architecture that makes a coral reef a teeming haven for life, that literally could take decades to build,” she said.

“We’ve got what you could call almost a ticking environmental time bomb in the form of 900 tonnes of heavy fuel in the fuel tanks of that ship.

“If it were to break apart, that would be a massive environmental catastrophe.”

Pilot calls

Meanwhile, a marine pilot contractor says companies running coal carriers through the Great Barrier Reef are becoming more aware of the routes their ships take.

There have been calls for better pilotage since the Shen Neng 1 ran aground.

It is not compulsory to use a pilot in the area.

Australian Reef Pilots chairman Don McLay says about one in four coal ships travelling through the Great Barrier Reef carry a pilot and about half of those do it voluntarily.

Mr McLay says there is a growing awareness about navigating troublespots.

“About three years ago when we visited clients, shippers, ship owners and charterers overseas, none of them had any risk management focus to any great extent,” he said.

“But now when we visit them, the person we meet is the risk manager and he’s particularly interested in the behaviour of their vessel through these areas.”

No shortcut

Yesterday, authorities said the coal ship was not taking a shortcut through the Great Barrier Reef when it ran aground.

AMSA said the crew lodged a shipping plan outlining its intention to take the route between Douglas Shoal and the Capricorn group of islands to the south.

There is a six-nautical-mile gap between the two but it is within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park’s designated shipping area.

Questions have been raised about why the ship did not travel further north before turning.

MSQ said the ship was not on a preferred route but it is not illegal to travel through it.

Investigators are still looking into why the ship veered off course far enough to hit the shoal.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd flew over the affected area with AMSA officials on Tuesday morning.

Mr Rudd said yesterday those responsible must be brought to account.

But Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott yesterday accused Mr Rudd of watching the oil spill but not acting to fix the problem.

Mr Abbott said the Prime Minister’s assurances were not good enough.

“We have a Prime Minister who is no good at making things happen,” he said.

Federal matter

Ms Bligh says she would like to see electronic monitoring of ships extend further down the Queensland coast. But she says extending the coverage area is a Federal Government matter.

“These are Commonwealth waters, and while the state cooperates with the Commonwealth on its northern monitoring program, ultimately the decision is one for the Commonwealth Government,” she said.

“I’m very pleased the Prime Minister inspected the area … and I would hope we’ll get a very receptive ear in Canberra on this issue.”

Authorities say a preliminary report on the grounding of the coal carrier could take several weeks.

- Reporting by Nicole Butler, Kerrin Binnie, Emma Pollard and Chris Logan