As the MV Rena crisis reached its most critical 24 hours amid a fresh oil spill and worsening weather yesterday, the heads of Mediterranean Shipping Company announced what they described as a "kind offering".
Authorities are today bracing themselves for the worst to happen with the ship.
Tug boats are surrounding the Rena this morning, in case the rugged sea conditions take their toll.
Swells continuing to batter the hulk, but are expected to ease later this afternoon.
Maritime New Zealand salvage unit manager Andrew Berry says plans are in place should the stern break free from the rest of the ship.
He says the tugs would look to tow it to shallow waters.
"There's three tugs out there at the moment, certainly they've pre-identified a number of sites that are inside that 50 metre depth contour that if the stern section was going to sink that they'd like to get it into that,'' he says.
There's a chance that even if the Rena does break in two, oil would not leak into the water.
Maritime New Zealand salvage unit manager Andrew Berry says before leaving the ship yesterday, crews sealed the fuel tank at the stern.
"There is always a risk that should the aft section of the ship detach, that you could get another release of oil, but because how that stern section of the ship would behave should the worst happen, we just don't know, so they've taken all the precautions they can,'' he says.
The Mediterranean Shipping Company Australasian managing director Kevin Clarke said the owners "genuinely feel the suffering" in the Bay of Plenty, but the pledge was not made out of any moral obligation.
Phil Abraham, general manager of MSC New Zealand, denied the company was pressured into donating.
"There's no guilt at all expressed by ourselves. We do feel for the people of Bay of Plenty. We felt a corporate responsibility to help."
But Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby felt the donation was not enough.
"It's a reflection of at least a degree of concern, but you know I get frustrated when you see members of our community on their hands and knees picking up the oil, and then these shipping lines have to be prodded to make a donation," he said.
"Hopefully, they do now understand the severity of the problem and will continue to make contributions - the salvors and Maritime New Zealand will leave and our communities will end up doing a lot of the restoration.
"I don't see why our ratepayers and community should have to fund any part of this - it needs to be totally funded by those who are responsible and accountable."
An invitation for the head of vessel owners Costamare Shipping to make a public apology in the Bay of Plenty was still to be taken up.
Costamare and its insurers The Swedish Club said yesterday that Costamare had cover which included pollution liabilities and its obligations would be "met in full".
But a spokesman could not confirm whether the cover would meet the total cost of the clean-up bill, which now stands at $4 million and is expected to run into tens of millions of dollars.
Commercial fishers barred from entering a huge exclusion zone around the Rena are also yet to learn what compensation will be offered.
Mr Key held closed-door talks yesterday over what he called "a small and distinct" group of businesses, but later said the amount of support would depend on the outcome of the disaster.
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett was drafting a scheme with help from Tauranga's Chamber of Commerce. Officials also met affected tourism operators last night.
Meanwhile, officials were last night praying the cracked and grounded Rena would survive another night on Astrolabe Reef amid high winds and large swells expected to have reached up to 4m.
Salvors were due to return to the ship at first light this morning to continue the sluggish job of offloading its remaining oil after bad weather again halted operations yesterday.
Eighty-eight containers had been lost overboard - 30 still unaccounted for - and it was expected that number would have risen by this morning.
The bad weather also put a stop to planned beach clean-ups yesterday.
- Jamie Morton, New Zealand Herald
