PASHA BULKER

The weather on the South East coast, around the Newcastle area is displaying its dominance at will over man.
Rain and winds, it's been referred to as a storm. Major flooding and 7 deaths so far as the nation that doesn't see rain for years at a time succumbed to nature's ruffle of her feathers. (Bet you don't feel so big now, eh?)

Another consequence of this 'storm' is the grounding (beaching, more accurately) of the bulk container ship, the Pasha Bulker. It makes for quite a sight, this leviathan of the seas land locked and vunerable as the angry sea smashes over the ship.

Funny thing was, the reporter spoke of brave men stranded on the ship, and talked of no injuries despite the Pasha Bulker grounding itself.
Let me tell ye something - the ship approached the shallow at a snails pace (or maybe a little bit faster) and its momentum just literally ground its way up the sand - slowly but interminably. It didn't come in full speed either - just the speed at which it was driven by the surf so the equivalent in car accidents would be akin to bumping a car as you were slowly reversing.
Matters not to the commercial driven TV stations, no, in the name of drama (viewers, revenue), the reporter turned it into this great big melodrama.

Within ten seconds of first viewing the stricken ships location relative to its surroundings, the situation was glaringly obvious - the vessel has run aground onto a sandy beach. In part it's supporting it's own weight at the front; the stern will still most likely have the additional support of an amount of water.
The biggest danger is if the ship falls to its side -that only their only fear.

When the weather clears you get (need an engineer to be precise) a number of the large tugs, the sort used for manoevouring such massive ships, and attach them via tow cables to the ship; await the next high tide, and pull the beached monster back into deeper water. Transferring the great weight of the running consumables may be an option to lighten the load, however that may be insignificant in its effect.

Another option would be to build a weir around the ship and refloat it by pumping water into it. Then a second, then a third and so on.
However, this would be enormous in terms of both money and time and almost certainly prohibitive.

A third option would be dredging a channel from the semi-afloat stern to deeper water. Accessing close enough to the stern could prove difficult though and two beached ships is the last thing needed so...again, engineers needed.

So those are the available options, none of which AREN'T expensive. I so hope an insurance company has to cover it. Oh please let it be so!

If I can just add a footnote:

Morris Iemma, the NSW Premier who since the election until now has been virtually unheard of, has siezed this opportunity to preside over a balls up that WASN'T his government's fault! Another blatant example of sleaked politico. God these people make me SICK!