Worsening weather is causing the oil slick from the stricken 3,300-TEU Rena to wash ashore in New Zealand's North Island, sparking rising complaints about its affect on the environment.
There are also growing fears that ship could break-up where it ran aground on a reef with 1,600 tonnes of fuel oil leaking into the sea and 2,100 TEU of cargo lost overboard.
Between 20 and 30 tonnes of fuel oil have so far gushed into New Zealand's Bay of Plenty, reports London's Containerisation International. Maritime New Zealand (MNZ), the state agency co-ordinating salvage operations, has warned that shellfish caught in the area should be avoided.
Several enquiries to assign blame have started with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key saying "he wanted answers as to how the ship struck a well known reef at 17 knots in calm waters".
The Liberian-flagged Rena, owned by Ciel Shipmanagement, affiliated to Athens-based Costamare, is on charter for Geneva's Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), the world's second largest container carrier, just behind Maersk.
The ship is on MSC's Capricorn (Australia/New Zealand) service and was sailing into Tauranga from Napier at the time of its grounding on October 5.
MNZ has initiated an "oil spill contingency plan" and the salvage firm Copenhagen-based Svitzer has been appointed to pump 1,500 tonnes of the 1,700 tonnes of fuel from the Rena. Earlier attempts failed.
MNZ has placed a one-kilometre exclusion zone around the ship and is prepared to clean the beaches if the ship comes asho