FOUR days into the Cape Falcon grounding, the owner is engaging salvors, who can then begin the work needed to shape a recovery plan: side scan for bottom profile, drafts/list, to work out a salvage plan. One serious attempt within four days is not unusual. Ships don't pop off with a bit more water, and the shock of "it's not moving" takes time to wear off before proper planning takes over.
Australia carries the world’s fifth-largest shipping task by tonnage and distance, so it is fair to ask why we keep ending up here. Have port risk audits been done to preserve trade flows after an incident? I have done a few in my time and have discovered some interesting views on who will fix it.
In the United States, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) requires vessel owners to hold a pre-contracted salvage agreement before a ship enters US waters. Capability is assessed against 15 criteria and lodged with the Coast Guard. The aim is to remove negotiation from the moment of crisis so salvage can begin immediately, reducing the cost of delay. During the recent Bougainville response, one tug reportedly set a new Australian day-rate record of $70,000, well above market: the price of an emergency hire, not a standing agreement.
Australia has no equivalent. AMSA's Protection of the Sea (Powers of Intervention) Act lets the Emergency Response Commander direct a ship's master, or salvage outright, once there's a serious pollution threat. That power is reactive and narrow, triggered only by an oil or noxious substance threat, not any maritime casualty. A dry bulker aground for days may not meet that threshold, which means the power may not apply here.
We saw a version of the same gap with Portland Bay off Sydney in 2021, when a harbour tug, rather than a purpose-built salvage tug, held a drifting and powerless bulker off the cliffs of a national park.
There is a second angle here, and it does not depend on AMSA. In the United States, ports and terminals also rely on OPA 90 for their own protection. A vessel without an approved Vessel Response Plan and salvor agreement cannot legally load or discharge oil at a US facility, and terminals check that before accepting the ship. That shifts preparedness back onto the shipowner well before the vessel approaches the berth.
Port Hedland requires a salvage plan to be in place, though not one agreed with by a salvor, so industry is already doing this piecemeal. Australian ports could take the same approach commercially, without waiting on Canberra. Major ports such as Gladstone, Hay Point, Melbourne, the Pilbara and Newcastle all control access to berths and anchorages. Making a pre-arranged salvage agreement a condition of access would put the tug under contract before arrival, rather than sourcing one after a grounding.