recklessly through federally protected waters without proper guidance.
On Tuesday, authorities were investigating the
shipwreck of one such apparent vessel — a Chinese-flagged bulk coal
carrier that slammed into the Great Barrier Reef, skippered by a
captain who allegedly ignored the fact he was outside the shipping
lanes without a trained marine pilot because he was trying to make time.
In the darkness before midnight Saturday, the Shen Neng 1 slammed into
Biologists on Tuesday assessed the reef, which stretches 1,200 miles and is considered an endangered habitat.
“We have observed damage … from the grounding
incident itself, as evidenced by the plume of coral sediment that can
be seen around the ship,” said
chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. “Fortunately,
there have been no reports of continuing oil loss, and the quantity
spilled to date does not pose a significant threat to marine life.”
A 2-mile-long oil slick, 100 yards wide, has leaked
from the ship. Authorities continued to work to steady the vessel to
keep it from breaking in two, spilling 65,000 tons of coal and 300,000
gallons of heavy fuel oil.
The Australian government does not require trained
marine pilots to assist ships in avoiding hazards such as the reef,
arguing that most large ships are banned from the area. Yet officials
acknowledge that accidents have damaged the pristine habitat.
Between 1987 and 1995, more than 600 shipping
accidents occurred in the area around the reef, including “groundings,
collisions, sinkings and minor oil-spill pollution events,” according
to a study by the marine park authority. Groundings accounted for 45%
of shipping accidents. There were also 230 reported oil spills, the
report said.
The harbormaster of
where the Shen Neng 1 had been docked prior to departure, said Tuesday
that he doubted the freighter embarked on any illegal shortcuts through
the reef before running aground. Capt.
3,000 ships a year leave Gladstone carrying coal and other commodities
to
“It’s a natural deep-water passage through the
reef,” he said. “You don’t have to be Rhodes scholar to navigate
through there. It’s well marked on the chart, it’s well known that it’s
there, and there have been no issues with thousands of ships passing
through that area.”
Australian Prime Minister
however, flew over the accident site Tuesday and told reporters later
that, “from where I see it, it is outrageous that any vessel could find
itself (seven miles) off course, it seems, in the Great Barrier Reef.”
“We’ve always said the vessel is up in an area it shouldn’t be in the first place,” said
the general manager of Marine Safety Queensland office. “How it got to
that to that position will be the subject of a detailed investigation.”
A Chinese news service offered details on the first
moments after the shipwreck, reporting that Chinese officials
immediately contacted the vessel’s captain, Wang Changji.
Wang told Ren Gongping, the Chinese consul-general in
Wang said repairs were under way and that the crew
had sufficient food and water to last days. “If the broken parts can be
repaired fast, the crew won’t have to leave the ship,” the agency
reported Wang as saying.
Prior, retired after 30 years running fishing
trawlers and ferries, said the number of large vessels in the area have
increased considerably, and they probably all should have pilots — but
there are not enough people trained to do the job.
“The technology’s there, but I suspect that there’s
(not enough manpower) to keep up round-the-clock surveillance of the
vessels,” he said.
“And that’s going to get worse as the number of vessels increases” even more, he said.
(Bennett, a special correspondent, reported from
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