Barrier Reef oil spill April 4, 2010

I doubt it's intentional. Maybe negligence, or they were up to some kind of no good., or crap equipment?

or they were up to some kind of no good

Sheng neng 1 is a chinese owned vessel. I have No data on the nationality of the crew and i suspect neither do you.

The incident again sparked media debate about the need for pilots on the large freighters which traverse the waters of the inner reef.

"This ship has acted illegally going into these restricted areas (of the marine park)," she told reporters in Brisbane.

"The Commonwealth government is now investigating how this happened and I hope, frankly, they throw the book at them."

She said the shipping company could be fined $1 million and the ship's captain $250,000.

MSQ said the vessel was owned by Shenzhen Energy, a subsidiary of the Cosco Group - China's largest shipping company.

Comment is being sought from the company.

Ms Bligh said the boom should be in place around the ship, on Douglas Shoal 70km east of Great Keppel Island, by late Monday or early Tuesday.

which is probably partly why this ship was where it was...they dont care.

To illustrate the effect of the rising fuel costs, consider the following example of a large modern container vessel used in the Trans-Pacific trade with an actual, maximum container capacity of 7,750 TEUs (twenty foot equivalents) or 3,875 FEUs (forty foot equivalents).1 With the cost of bunker fuel at $552 per ton, with fuel consumption at 217 tons per day, a single 28-day round trip voyage for this one vessel would produce a fuel bill of $3,353,952.

In 2007 the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority estimated more than 6000 ships more than 50 metres long passed through the area each year. That is likely to have risen considerably during the resources boom. More than 1200 vessels a year pass through Gladstone alone.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/shipping-crackdown-urged-to-protect-reef-from-disaster-20100404-rlry.html

(Queensland state Premier) Ms Bligh says she has been talking to Maritime Safety over the spill and says aerial dispersant spray has helped break up some of the oil.

But she says she cannot believe the ship was so far off course and sailing through a restricted area of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

She says charges could be laid against the shipping company owners as well as the ship's captain.

"This ship is in Australian waters and the investigation will be undertaken by Commonwealth authorities," she said.

"I think the book should be thrown at this organisation. This is a very delicate part of one of the most precious marine environments on earth and there are safe, authorised shipping channels and that's where this ship should have been.

"This is an extremely unusual event."

Ms Bligh says the salvage could take weeks.

"It's possible that this could be one of the most complex and difficult salvage operations we've seen, certainly in Queensland maritime history, and possibly Australia," she said.

However, Nicholson said the ship's captain had a 10-mile-wide channel to navigate through in an area where pilots aren't needed -- a relatively wide open section of sea, 70 kilometers (43 miles) off shore and away from the larger mass of coral most people associate with the Great Barrier Reef.

"He got 15 nautical miles (17.3 miles) off course, which is just outrageous," said Nicholson, who likened it to a car veering off a 2-mile wide road.

"We have thousands of boats moving in that same space every year and nothing has ever happened like this," he said

I hesitate to ask, but maybe The Front Fell Off.

They contend that in 2008 inflated costs resulted in $50 million being paid to fewer than 100 pilots. A typical pilot may make $368,000 a year. In addition, the pilots are paid much more than ship captains

me thinks you are WAY low on that $21 million figure.