Updated 1 hour 44 minutes ago
The owners of a Chinese coal ship stranded on the Great Barrier Reef off central Queensland say they are "sorry" for the grounding.
Shenzhen Energy Transport's carrier Shen Neng 1 hit Douglas Shoal at full speed east of Rockhampton on Saturday, spilling more than two tonnes of oil from a ruptured fuel tank.
The remaining 975 tonnes of oil is being transferred to a barge.
Oil booms are around the ship in case there is any spillage.
Shenzhen is a subsidiary of the state-owned China Ocean Shipping Company. It has released a statement saying it is cooperating with authorities and has representatives in the incident control room in Gladstone.
Salvage operation
Meanwhile, authorities are starting to pump oil from the stricken coal carrier.
They are putting safety equipment in place to reduce the risk of a further spill as they prepare to pump out the remaining fuel.
About 250 workers are on standby should any oil reach the coast.
Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) general manager Patrick Quirk says it could take days to transfer all the oil.
"This is just a part of a long process and we need to keep our eye on the short game, which is the pumping of the oil," he said.
"The medium-term game is the refloating and what we're going to do when we refloat her."
Mr Quirk says the carrier is holding together.
"The salvors have put on electronic monitoring, hull-monitoring equipment and they have advised that they are detecting no further deflections of the hull, which means that the damage has stabilised," he said.
"We're doing a metre-by-metre check of the ship with the salvors and that'll determine what goes into the computer programs in terms of the damage assessment reports."
Mr Quirk says the weather conditions today are favourable.
"A bit of a wind change due Monday which we'll need to keep our eye on, but at the moment we're not being alarmed by the weather change," he said.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says the oil transfer is a difficult and delicate operation.
"Anyone who thinks this is all over, red rover frankly, they're not getting it right," he said.
"This is going to take a lot of time, a lot of technical precision and hard work and it's a very difficult situation still with no absolute guarantee of success."
Political 'sightseeing'
Meanwhile, Queensland Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek has criticised Premier Anna Bligh for travelling to inspect the stricken coal carrier.
Ms Bligh will today fly over the ship.
Mr Langbroek say Ms Bligh is the fourth Labor politician to go and look at the damage.
"I think it's interesting that Anna Bligh is following the example of Kevin Rudd, [Federal Environment Minister] Peter Garrett and [Queensland Transport Minister] Rachel Nolan to be the fourth senior politician to take a plane flight over the Shen Neng 1," he said.
"I think it's time for the sightseeing to stop by senior politicians and let's just let the experts get on with fixing it."
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/09/2868305.htm
The owners of a Chinese coal ship stranded on the Great Barrier Reef off central Queensland say they are "sorry" for the grounding.
Shenzhen Energy Transport's carrier Shen Neng 1 hit Douglas Shoal at full speed east of Rockhampton on Saturday, spilling more than two tonnes of oil from a ruptured fuel tank.
The remaining 975 tonnes of oil is being transferred to a barge.
Oil booms are around the ship in case there is any spillage.
Shenzhen is a subsidiary of the state-owned China Ocean Shipping Company. It has released a statement saying it is cooperating with authorities and has representatives in the incident control room in Gladstone.
Salvage operation
Meanwhile, authorities are starting to pump oil from the stricken coal carrier.
They are putting safety equipment in place to reduce the risk of a further spill as they prepare to pump out the remaining fuel.
About 250 workers are on standby should any oil reach the coast.
Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) general manager Patrick Quirk says it could take days to transfer all the oil.
"This is just a part of a long process and we need to keep our eye on the short game, which is the pumping of the oil," he said.
"The medium-term game is the refloating and what we're going to do when we refloat her."
Mr Quirk says the carrier is holding together.
"The salvors have put on electronic monitoring, hull-monitoring equipment and they have advised that they are detecting no further deflections of the hull, which means that the damage has stabilised," he said.
"We're doing a metre-by-metre check of the ship with the salvors and that'll determine what goes into the computer programs in terms of the damage assessment reports."
Mr Quirk says the weather conditions today are favourable.
"A bit of a wind change due Monday which we'll need to keep our eye on, but at the moment we're not being alarmed by the weather change," he said.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says the oil transfer is a difficult and delicate operation.
"Anyone who thinks this is all over, red rover frankly, they're not getting it right," he said.
"This is going to take a lot of time, a lot of technical precision and hard work and it's a very difficult situation still with no absolute guarantee of success."
Political 'sightseeing'
Meanwhile, Queensland Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek has criticised Premier Anna Bligh for travelling to inspect the stricken coal carrier.
Ms Bligh will today fly over the ship.
Mr Langbroek say Ms Bligh is the fourth Labor politician to go and look at the damage.
"I think it's interesting that Anna Bligh is following the example of Kevin Rudd, [Federal Environment Minister] Peter Garrett and [Queensland Transport Minister] Rachel Nolan to be the fourth senior politician to take a plane flight over the Shen Neng 1," he said.
"I think it's time for the sightseeing to stop by senior politicians and let's just let the experts get on with fixing it."
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/09/2868305.htm
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