Ship Grounds at Newcastle

by NSW Maritime/Powerboat-World on 8 Jun 2007 The bulk carrier Pasha Bulker grounded near the entrance to Newcastle Harbour this morning, in heavy seas according to NSW Maritime. The 225m long, 30,000 tonne bulk carrier is aground 50 metres off the beach near Big Ben reef, just south of the port entrance. The manifest says there are 21 crew on board.

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.

Newcastle Police reported to the Sydney Morning Herald that the ship is '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.

Rescue helicopters lifted the Philipino crw members off the Panamanian registered coal freighter,

There are currently three other ships reporting difficulties. The Coral Emerald is about 3 nautical miles offshore and is reporting her anchor is dragging and another Beetus has just radio it is in trouble.

The Sea Confidence is less than a nautical mile off Stockton Beach and has dropped its anchor but is having trouble holding in the heavy swell.

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 and has broken its moorings in the heavy seas.

Jim Sullivan, the news director of local TV station NBN, said gales, surf and tide were pushing the ship further into the beach and within a few hours, he said the crew could have 'just about been 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.

The freighter has in fact started to leak fuel.

Newcastle harbourmaster Tim Turner told ABC radio says the situation is eerily similar to the wreck of another coal ship on Newcastle's Stockton Beach in the 1970s.

'It's been a long time since we've had something like this and in fact, 1974 when the Sygna went on Stockton beach in a cyclone,' he said. 'We've just had a reading of 17.9 metres of swell, which is an enormous swell.'

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Mr Chris Oxenbould Chief Executive of NSW Maritime and the State Marine Pollution Controller under State plans for combating pollution at sea, said the incident occurred just before 10am today.

Mr Oxenbould said a response involving Newcastle Port Corporation, NSW Maritime and Australian Maritime Safety Authority was under way.

'A response is being coordinated and contingencies for pollution are being put in place.

'The forecast is for the weather to deteriorate with seas now at 8-10m and winds of around 40 knots.'