The Manahau lost its second propeller yesterday as it dragged in and out on the tide, but the barge hydraulics have been restored to help the crew, and to run the winch and feed out the tow rope.
Equipment to help with the refloating was expected today and the tow rope was secured.
The Greymouth Star understands the first salvage attempt will be made on the midday high tide.
"The vessel is stable, the hull and all tanks are intact, there are no leaks and there is no immediate risk to the environment," owner Westland Mineral Sands said this afternoon.
Still sitting on sand, the huge 98m-long barge is now just 200m away from the rock seawall immediately in front of the Westport aerodrome.
However, it has not moved any further along the beach today.
Meanwhile, the 67m-long MMA Vision from New Plymouth was off Carters Beach late morning, with the smaller tug Kurutai from Napier expected to arrive this evening.
The Kurutai previously pulled Sea Tow coal barges into Greymouth.
A short window of fine weather is open before another front hits at the weekend.
With the official investigation into the grounding under way — and reports that lawyers are engaged — the parties involved are remaining tight-lipped.
Someone who has worked with the MMA Vision wrote on Facebook yesterday the boat draws about 5m, which could be an issue with the shallow tapering shore off Westport.
"If a helicopter can get a messenger line to them, then they will gradually increase the size of tow by winching on until they are confident to take up the tow and pull it out to deeper water.
"Most likely they will tow her (Manahau) to Tasman or Golden Bay to assess damage and set up a bridal for Kurutai to Yamba Australia for dry dock and repair."
Westport's retired harbour-master David Barnes said the powerful MMA Vision tug would just about do the salvage job by itself.
He believed the smaller Kurutai would tow it away for repairs.
"They say it's sitting on the second propeller. I would suggest she's got a hole?"
With an exclusion now in place, and authorities keeping quiet, it is hard to know how the barge is faring.
Mr Barnes said the Manahau did not have a double bottom.
He questioned if it should be declared a constructive total loss, which would see the insurance company take it up.
Even if towed, there were no dry docks in New Zealand capable of taking a vessel of that size.
"The videos of her bouncing up and down, and she weighs about 3000 tonnes ... chucking 3000 tonnes around like that, it has got to be strongly constructed (to survive)."
Maritime NZ on-scene commander Mick Courtnell said despite strong swells over the past 24 hours there was no immediate risk of fuel leaking.
In preparation for the refloat, which is managed by Westland Mineral Sands, response teams had been working to ensure the vessel remains secure on the beach.
It is held by its anchors, which have been buried in sand, and seven five-tonne blocks of concrete to prevent significant movement, Mr Courtnell said.
This morning, incident controller Andrew Saunderson said Maritime NZ did not have any role in approving the barge for operation in New Zealand.
"There has been some confusion about Maritime NZ's role. Foreign flagged vessels like the Manahau do not require Maritime NZ's approval to come to New Zealand and operate here. The Manahau is flagged to Niue, meaning that's where it's registered. One of the actions we can take is to inspect foreign flagged vessels.
"We made one of those inspections of the Manahau when it first arrived in July, we found some deficiencies with it at that time and detained it until they were suitably rectified by the operator. There is an investigation under way but as far as we know, none of those prior deficiencies were factors in the grounding."
