A day after Clark said the ship must be moved, and that she was prepared to raise the issue with her Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe if necessary, the fleet operators said measures were under way to move the vessel.

The Nisshin Maru has been disabled in Antarctic waters since a fire broke out on board six days ago, prompting fears of an oil spill.

It is carrying more than 1.3 million litres of fuel and lies just 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the world's biggest Adelie penguin colony at Cape Adare on the Antarctic coast.

Glenn Inwood, a spokesman for Japan's whaling programme, said Tuesday that the ship's crew had restored generator power to the vessel.

Inwood said the ship had sustained less damage than originally thought but he told Radio New Zealand that if the engines failed to work, the Nisshin Maru would be towed out of the area by other ships in the whaling fleet.

New Zealand rescue coordination centre spokesman Steve Corbett said talks with the Nisshin Maru on Tuesday had established the crew had had no luck in restarting the engines.

"The only change is that they now have 70 to 80 people on board. They have still had no success in trying to start the engines and that is what they are still trying to do," Corbett said.

"We want the vessel moved as safely and quickly as possible but ... (we) just have to sit tight and hope they make further progress tomorrow." New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter believed the best towing option was the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza as "the vessels that the Japanese allege could tow it are not suitable tug vessels". Inwood said no decision had been made as to where the ship would be towed if necessary. While emphasising that they wanted to move the Nisshin Maru out of the area quickly, he said claims that the stricken vessel posed a risk to the environment were "not helpful".

"There is no concern over any environment problems down there at all," he said.

Corbett countered that the threat of environmental disaster was small but significant. "There is a risk ... no matter how small it is, and it is small, we can't afford to take any chances with that environment. The consequences of anything happening there are so disastrous we want to remove the threat," he said.

The fire, which erupted below decks, claimed the life of one crew member -- 27-year-old Kazutaka Makita.

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