Shipping companies in Australia will have to pay fine for cleaning up the seas and the pristine beaches of Queensland. This happened after oil spill up by the Pacific Adventurer. The fine has been forced by the federal government.

This was announced on Friday, when the Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said that the government will be increasing the Protection of the Sea Levy, temporarily. The step has been taken to recover the cost of clean up.

As per the calculations, the total cost of clean-up is $31 million, which is considered to be the worst environmental disaster in the region. Post this, the total levy on the ships would be 14.25 cents, an increase of 3 cents.

The disaster took place in March, 2009 when the Pacific Adventurer cargo ship lost 31 containers during the Cyclone Hamish, losing 270,000 liters of oil.

Pacific Adventurer agreed to pay $25 million, which was already in excess of the total compensation that it was supposed to pay legally. So, in order to avoid the taxpayer from paying the money, the levy was put on the ship companies.