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CLEAN UP EFFORT WELL UNDER WAY AFTER CONTAINER SHIP SPILL OFF NSW COAST


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Below is sent to us from Corporate Communications RMS

 

4 June 2018

 

CLEAN UP EFFORT WELL UNDER WAY AFTER CONTAINER SHIP SPILL OFF NSW COAST

 

Teams of clean up crew have been activated and are working to collect debris from the 83 containers which fell from a ship into the ocean 30 kilometres off the Central Coast in the early hours of Friday, despite hammering rain and wind on the Port Stephens coastline.

 

The State Marine Pollution Controller role has now been activated with Roads and Maritime Services Executive Director Angus Mitchell coordinating and overseeing the clean up effort.

 

“To ensure we have a coordinated effort to remove the materials which wash ashore as soon as possible, Roads and Maritime is leading an effort involving NSW authorities, including National and Marine Parks, local councils where the material is washing up and federal agencies including the Australian Marine Safety Authority,” Mr MItchell said.

 

Debris has been confirmed at:

·         Jimmys Beach (inside Port Stephens)

·         Rocky Point and Fingal Head

·         Bennetts Beach

·         Port Stephens – D’Albora Marina to north of Little Beach

·         Yacaaba Headland.  

 

“There are currently have 20 people on the ground at Bennetts and Jimmys beaches, where the majority of material debris is washing up, with the capacity to increase this number to 100 people, dependent on ongoing aerial sightings.

 

“A number of bins are located at the 4WD access point at Bennetts Beach and a further delivery of skips was made to Jimmys Beach earlier today.

 

“At Bennetts Beach – five skip bins of rubbish have already been removed, including car bumper bars, printer cartridges, wooden bowls, lollies, chips, cookies, packaged drinks and analogue clocks from an insulated container.”

 

Mr Mitchell said while it is fantastic the local community has been getting involved and volunteering to help remove debris from the shoreline, it is not encouraged for safety and environmental reasons.

 

“This continuing environmental pollution and recovery effort is our highest priority and we will continue to provide updates to the community,” Mr Mitchell said.

 

The ship, YM Efficiency, is now off Gerroa on the South Coast.

 

Hourly warnings are being made to ensure ship operators are aware of the potential danger of the containers, which would not be very visible from the waterline.

 

Drift modelling is being used to predict where the debris – which is mixed but has been confirmed as non-hazardous - is likely to wash up, between Newcastle and Port Stephens.

 

No further containers have entered the ocean, despite there being another 30 damaged containers on board.

 

However, the containers pose a significant navigational hazard out at sea, which is why we are putting out hourly.


The ship’s insurers will lead the financial component of the recovery.

 

Members of the public are been asked to stay clear of any debris and containers and report to the NSW Maritime Info Line 13 12 36.

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2 hours ago, GordoRetired said:

Wonder if the shiping company will be fined or do NSW Tax payers have to foot the cleanup  costs?????

The ship’s insurers will lead the financial component of the recovery.”

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  • 1 month later...

So a month on how has the clean up gone, is it still on going?

i was at Shoal Bay on Saturday / Sunday and the beach was clean and the water also looked clean.

Will be back up next week with the boat so do I have to watch out for floating containers still or have they all be recovered or sunk.

 

Edited by jeffb5.8
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9 hours ago, jeffb5.8 said:

So a month on how has the clean up gone, is it still on going?

i was are Shoal Bay on Saturday / Sunday and the beach was clean and the water also looked clean.

Will be back up next week with the boat so do I have to watch out for floating containers still or have they all be recovered or sunk.

 

Around 50 of the containers have been located on the bottom in 100+ metres of water. A bit of an artificial reef happening... until they start to break up, I guess.

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Wonder if that boat which hit something while chassing tuna on the news yesterday hit something from that ship. The lads were lucky to get the boat back with several rescue boats assisting.

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2 hours ago, JonD said:

Wonder if that boat which hit something while chassing tuna on the news yesterday hit something from that ship. The lads were lucky to get the boat back with several rescue boats assisting.

Was that the one with the split hull or split weld?

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3 hours ago, JonD said:

Wonder if that boat which hit something while chassing tuna on the news yesterday hit something from that ship. The lads were lucky to get the boat back with several rescue boats assisting.

I’d be surprised if it was from the said container spill. It was some weeks ago now. But I guess you never know! 

I reckon those container ships lose a lot more than is reported! 

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1 hour ago, Fishop said:

Was that the one with the split hull or split weld?

According to the news they hit something but how often do they get the story right. Anyone know if the boat owner was a member from this forum.

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1 hour ago, JonD said:

According to the news they hit something but how often do they get the story right. Anyone know if the boat owner was a member from this forum.

Not sure - he’s definitely on Facebook. He’s trying to find details on the first boat to assist to say thanks.

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3 hours ago, raging said:

Not sure - he’s definitely on Facebook. He’s trying to find details on the first boat to assist to say thanks.

We were the first boat there and stayed with them until the first police boat arrived.

We were coming back from about 33 kn out after landing 10 bluefin, we released 7  fish kept 3 . When we herd on radio they were taking water and they thought they would go down . We were about 5 kn away heading back to Sydney harbour so we sped up at 30 knots and caught up with them in about 15 minutes.

They were going to Botany Bay so we left them when the Police vessel arrived . 

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