The captain of the coal carrier which caused damage to the Great Barrier Reef when it was stranded over Easter has been granted bail at the Gladstone Magistrates Court.
Jichang Wang, 47, was charged with liability for a vessel which caused damage.
His chief officer-on-watch, Xuegang Wang, 44, faced the same court charged with an offence of being the person in charge of a vessel which caused damage to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
Both were granted bail but face maximum fines of $55,000 and $220,000 respectively if convicted.
Earlier , the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said its crew had neglected to change course as planned.
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ATSB chief commissioner Martin Dolan said that by the time the crew realised they were off course about a half hour later, it was too late.
The vessel, the Shen Neng 1, a 70,000 tonne fully laden bulk coal carrier travelling from Gladstone to China, became stuck fast on Douglas Shoal, causing extensive damage to the reef and leaking some four tonnes of fuel oil.
The vessel was refloated this week.
Queensland police have charged two crew members over this incident.
Presenting a briefing on the ATSB's initial investigation, Mr Dolan said a variety of factors appeared to have contributed.
The vessel left Gladstone shortly before 11am on April 3, sailing north to exit the barrier reef through a passage used by about a third of vessels on this route.
About two-and-half hours into the voyage, the second mate, in consultation with the master, decided on a shortcut.
Mr Dolan said that was legitimate and if followed would have kept the vessel in deep water well clear of the reef.
It was planned to turn northeast at about 4.30pm AEST. But, the inquiry said, it appeared the GPS navigation system, programmed with the original route, wasn't changed. At 1600, it appeared the second mate handed over to the first mate, explaining the course change and that the GPS had not been reprogrammed, Mr Dolan said.
Mr Dolan said the first mate had never navigated through this area before.
"He was the one principally responsible for managing the loading in Gladstone so had a very busy time and seemed to have had about two and a half hours of broken sleep in the previous 37 hours," he said.
At about 4pm, the vessel sailed into an area covered by a new chart showing the shoal. However, the ship was still navigating by the previous chart which didn't show the shoal, Mr Dolan said.
About 4.30pm, the ship should have altered course to sail through the reef passage.
For an unknown reason, the first mate decided to fix the ship's position at 5pm. Then, realising the ship was dangerously close to the shoal, he tried to alter course but it was too late.
Mr Dolan said there was no single factor causing the accident.
"There was a range of things that came together that led to the grounding of this vessel," he said.
Mr Dolan said the ATSB wasn't interested in apportioning blame.
He said the ATSB would examine practices of bridge management and route planning as well as the issue of fatigue.
"We will take a look at the current arrangements, protective measures, for the Great Barrier Reef, traffic services, coastal pilotage, the routing of vessels and so on," he said.
"What we want to do is take a look at the whole system of safeguards, what led to this happening and how can we prevent it happening in future."
