Large bulk ship has run aground at Newcastle

[grant]

A bulk carrier has run aground literally on Newcastle's main beach about 2hrs ago, adjacent to Nobby's lighthouse. Nobby's Automatic weather station has been reporting consistent gusts topping 52-57kts (up to 106km/hr) for several hours due to a strong low pressure system off the coast. Approximately 70 bulk carriers are moored off Newcastle awaiting coal loading at Port Waratah. Newcastle is approximately 100 miles (160 kilometres) north of Sydney.

Any Newcastle area readers are encouraged to submit updates from monitoring the local emergency services.

Grant


http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21870703-5001028,00.html

Huge seas delaying shipwreck rescue
By staff writers and wires

June 08, 2007
EMERGENCY crews are scrambling to evacuate 21 people from a container ship that has run aground off Newcastle, New South Wales.
The ship, which has no cargo on board, struck rocks on the coast near Nobbys Head about 10am.
Emergency teams are planning to evacuate everyone on board, but it is not believed anyone has been injured.
Newcastle Police spokesman Tony Tamplin said huge seas were delaying rescue efforts.
"The evacuation hasn't begun yet, emergency crews are still trying to work out how to get to the ship," he said.
"The sea is very rough, waves are crashing over the boat."
The Pasher Bulker, a large coal ship with a capacity of more than 40,000 tonnes, broke its moorings in heavy seas this morning.
The vessel, which was due to load in the Newcastle port next Tuesday before shipping out the next day to Japan, is washed ashore on Nobby’s Beach, at the ports entrance.
A spokeswoman from NSW Maritime said she did not believe that the ship was carrying any coal.
NSW Ambulance Service spokesman Neil Hargreaves said 21 crew were believed to be on board, and the Port Authority of Newcastle was in the process of sending out a tug boat to try to pull the stricken vessel to safety.
“We have no reports of any injuries on board, but we have 20 personnel on standby. We’ve got 12 ambulance crews on the ground, and two helicopters waiting, each with four crew.”
Mr Hargreaves said a joint police and ambulance service command centre had been set up on Nobby’s Head, and that the centre was in constant contact with the ship’s crew and the Port Authority.

 

[grant]

Ship Aground Update

Somebody has already got video on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzu-sbNydKw

And the Sydney Morning Herald has a 14 photo slideshow

http://www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2007/06/08/1181089289756.html


Sydney Morning Herald
'Panic stations': ship aground
Jano Gibson and Rod Quinn
June 8, 2007 - 11:18AM

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/panic-stations-ship-aground/2007/06/08/1181089282623.html

A major emergency is underway in Newcastle with a bulk carrier ship breaking its mooring and running aground 50 metres off a beach this morning.

Authorities are frantically working to avert a potentially major environmental disaster as the ship, the Pasha Bulker, with 21 crew on board, threatens to move closer towards Nobbys Beach, near the Newcastle Baths.

Acting Inspector Kirren Steel, at Newcastle Police, told smh.com.au: "It's a bit of panic stations at the moment.''

She said the ship was "balancing just on the reef'' between 50 and 100 metres off the beach.

Massive waves are crashing into and over the ship, with the bow swinging towards the beach.

A local resident said it was like nothing he had seen before.

"It's right between the flags where people usually swim and there's this massive ship,'' he said.

"There were people everywhere. As word got out people started coming from everywhere - there were hundreds. Driving out, the number of cars going in to have a sticky was amazing. There were police everywhere, choppers as well.''

The resident said people can swim out further than where the ship is aground.

"The waves were actually going over the top. The conditions were horrible, if they were out on the deck they would have been washed away,'' he said, referring to the crew.

The Pasha Bulker, a 225-metre long coal ship built last year, has 700 tonnes of heavy fuel and 34 tonnes of diesel on board.

It does not have any coal on board. It had been due to pick up a load of 68,000 tonnes of coal on June 12.

The crew members will stay on board to help attach lines from two tug boats that have been mobilised.

Jim Sullivan, the news director of local TV station NBN, said: "I can't see any sign of the crew on board.''

He added that there appeared to be no immediate attempt to get the crew off the vessel.

A local port authority helicopter, as well as a Westpac helicopter, had circled the stricken ship however unrelenting gales meant any evacuation at this stage was unlikely.

"The wind is extremely strong here,'' he told Sky News. "You can hardly stand up.''

He said gales, surf and tide were pushing the ship further into the beach and within a few hours, he said the crew would "just about be able to walk off''.

Ships are normally anchored two to five kilometres off the coast but the wild weather, including winds of more than 100 kilometres an hour, had caused it to break its moorings.

Two ambulance helicopters were on the ground but one has been diverted to another emergency in Clarence Town, where an elderly couple were washed off a bridge into a river.

A spokeswoman for the Minister for Maritime, Dianne Kelly, said the main concern was the environmental aspect of the accident.

"The Australian Maritime Safety Authority are on standby if there is a pollution report, which there hasn't been at this stage. There is a lot of fuel, that's the risk," she said.

"With the crew, the conditions are a little too rough to get them off. There are tug boats to provide assistance, one would presume they are trying to pull it further away from the beach."

A spokesman for ambulance media said they would be launched after the Ports Authority's first attempts to pull the ship from where it is lodged.

"From what I understand the Ports Authority are putting their tug out to see if it can pull it off the reef. A command post has been set up there, with police and ambulance officers,'' he said.

A number of ambulances are in Nobbys car park waiting to treat crew if necessary when they are brought from the ship.

Ambulance media said there were 21 crew aboard, but no injuries had been reported.

- with Erik Jensen



Grant

 

[grant]

2 more bulk carrier ships expected to run around tonight at Newcastle.

Another 2 bulk carrier ships, currently 1km off shore, are dragging on their anchors and are expected to run aground off Stockton beach (just north of Nobby's) tonight, as fierce 50 knots south-easterlies and seas as high as 18 metres (58 feet) continue to pound the NSW Central Coast.

Grant

 

[satob1]

i can swim out to it in 5 mins grant

hi grant, its huge mate i can swim out to it in 5 mins from the newcastle beach ,i seen it but i couldnt believe the size of it its huge .david from newcastle nsw

 

[grant]

No wonder ... it is 820 feet long
The bottom of the ship is stuck on a reef
Heavy haulage tugs are waiting to pull it off in the high tide at the end of the month
Some wag has already tried to flog it on ebay


Grant


Photo Credit

DARREN PATEMAN/ Newcastle Herald