The Clarence River Estuary is part of the largest combined river-ocean commercial fishery on the Australian east-coast.
It also contains the Port of Yamba at its mouth.
Every vessel entering the port has to navigate past a coffee rock reef protected by Native Title which curves around the entrance waters.
The navigation channels these vessels sail range in depth from 3m to 5.5m on a good day.
The navigation channels these vessels sail range in depth from 3m to 5.5m on a good day.
This port can safely take vessels with an overall length of no more than 120m, a maximum beam of 20m and a draft limit of 5m or less.
Even small recreation boats straying a few feet out of the main navigational channel can sometimes get stuck in shifting mud banks. While the Yamba-Iluka ferry has been known to find itself momentarily stuck in sand within feet of the wharf in Yamba Bay.
This is the port that NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has given the nod to as a cruise ship destination if the October 2017 announcement by two of her ministers is any indication. Minister Pavey’s office afterwards stating that the first small cruise ship is to arrive in October 2018.
That ship has been identified as the Caledonian Sky, a 26 year-old, 90.6m long vessel with 4200 gross tonnage, a beam width of 15.2m, maximum draft of 4m and a carrying capacity of 114 passengers.
This first cruise ship visit has been approved ahead of any investigation of estuary/port conditions and capacity, community consultation or practical preparation.
But what could possibly go wrong? It’s a small cruise ship, right? It will get in and out of the port OK, won’t it?
Well let us look at other small cruise ships which were not making their very first visit to the area in which they were sailing……..
A limited selection of typical maritime incidents involving small cruise ships
8 July 2008 - Spirit of Glacier Bay grounded just after 7am (local time) today near Glacier Bay in Alaska. The ship had 51 people on-board. No injuries were reported. Unclear whether the grounding was caused by human error or a mechanical or electronic malfunction.
9 September 2009 – The Balmoral anchored off Portree, Skye with severe gales preventing it from berthing in the harbour. The liner departed Invergordon on 7 September with a reported 18 cases of the highly infectious novovirus among its 1,280 passengers and 516 crew.
23 May 2010 - Deutschland moored at the quay in Eidfjord in Norway when a fire broke out in the engine room. The 608 passengers were evacuated safely and 205 crew stayed on-board to help battle the fire. Damage was contained to an isolated area and limited with the help of fire doors.
29 August 2010 - M/V Clipper Adventurer ran aground Friday when it hit a rock. It was carrying 110 passengers on a cruise through the Northwest Passage when the mishap happened. No injuries have been reported among the passengers and 69 crew members on board. In 2017 a Canadian court ordered the owners to pay pollution related costs and fines arising from the incident finding the Coast Guard properly warned the Clipper Adventurer's crew of the rock shelf through a notice to shipping, which was not on board the ship. The court wrote "as it was, this nonchalant attitude put the lives of close to 200 souls at risk." A total of 13 tanks aboard were breached during the grounding. Some of those tanks held fuel, freshwater and sludge.
15 September 2011 - MS Nordlys was sailing from Bergen, Norway to the town of Kirkenes when fire broke out in the engine room of the cruise ship with 207 passengers on-board. Passengers were safely evacuated from the ship at the port of Alesund, Norway. Two crew members were killed and nine others were taken to the hospital for treatment. The investigation concludes that the fire probably started when a diesel leakage was ignited coming into contact with an un-insulated indicator valve on starboard main engine. The most probable cause of the diesel leakage was fatigue fracture in the feed pipes for a fuel injection pump due to the pump being loose. AIBN is of the opinion that insufficient job specification in the shipping company’s maintenance system had contributed to the fuel injection pump not being sufficiently fastened and to the indicator valve not being sufficiently insulated.
3 June 2012 – Independence allegedly discharge of soapy water into the harbour at Bar Harbor from the cruise ship as it was tied up to the town pier. The water was effluent from clothes washing machines on the ship; the overboard discharge valves to the forward washing machines had been left open.
21 May 2013 - MS Serenissima, which had 112 people on board, became stuck in sand and gravel at about 18.30 on Monday 20 May. It was refloated at about 01:10 after an earlier attempt failed due to high winds.
11 May 2015 - MV Hamburg grounded on charted rocks near the New Rocks buoy in the Sound of Mull, Scotland with 461 persons on board. There were no injuries but the accident caused considerable raking damage to the hull and rendered the port propeller, shaft and rudder unserviceable. Ship’s captain plead guilty to two charges.
12 August 2015 – State of Alaska issued cruise ship operators 18 notices of violation involving 48 instances of excessive air emissions since 2010. Each violation of law carries a fine of approximately $37,500. Between 2009 and 2013 Alaska reportedly issued 174 Notices of Violation for cruise ships discharging in violation of Alaska Water Quality Standards.
23 December 2015 - Star Pride while passing through UNESCO World Heritage Site Coiba National Park on 22 December hit some slightly submerged rocks while attempting to navigate through a shallow channel. The ship underwent repairs in this delicate ecosystem.
31 March 2016 - Adventure Hornblower was attempting to dock at the Navy Pier in downtown San Diego, California. As the vessel made its approach to the pier, its bow unexpectedly swung to starboard and allided with the pier’s passenger embarkation dock. The ship then accelerated forward until it struck the seawall at the foot of the pier. Eight passengers sustained minor injuries in the accident. The allision caused nearly $1.06 million in damage to the vessel, pier, and seawall.
14 October 2016 – Pacific Princess struck a breakwater at Villefranche-sur-Mer (port to Nice, France) at 6am. The accident occurred in rough seas, with strong winds of over 50 mph (80 kph), causing the ship’s portside hull to hit rocks at the harbor’s entrance. Just as the vessel passed the harbor’s opening in the breakwater, a sudden gust of wind hit and skidded it into the breakwater’s wall.
2 September 2016 - SeaDream I with 105 passengers and 61 crew caught fire off Naples, Italy. The vessel was making a voyage between Amalfi and Palinuro in Tyrrhenian sea, but one of the generators suffered failure and started smoking. The thick smoke and flames engulfed the whole engine compartment, causing damages to the engineering. Local authorities dispatched tug at the scene of the accident, which towed the cruise ship to Naples
19 December 2016 - Spirit of Baltimore cruise ship captain fell asleep while navigating the ship on 28 August. Unattended, the boat with approx. 400 passengers veered off course and crashed into two moored recreational boats and floating pier at Henderson’s Wharf Marina in Fells Point, Maryland.
12 March 2017 - MV Caledonian Sky hit coral reefs at Crossover Reef, inflicting significant damage to one of the world's most biodiverse reefs on 4 March. It has been voted among the best diving spots in the world According to NSW Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight Melinda Pavey this cruise ship will be mooring in Yamba in October 2018. This ship is a repeat offender having previously damaged coral off Medan in Sumartra.
5 April 2017 - L'Austral grounded on 9 January 2017 at Snares Island with hull breached and one ballast tank damaged. It then grounded a second time in Milford Sound on 9 February.
5 April 2017 - L'Austral grounded on 9 January 2017 at Snares Island with hull breached and one ballast tank damaged. It then grounded a second time in Milford Sound on 9 February.
By now, Premier Berejiklian, you may be entertaining the idea that lining up the small regional port and town of Yamba for cruise ship visits may not be the best idea your government has floated.
But that's not what this port expansion push is really all about, is it Gladys?
No, your government has decided that all three small regional ports ideally should become multipurpose ports which include commercial shipping, cruise shipping and defence facilities as well as extensive channel & mooring area dredging to at least an 8m minimum with channel access suitable for ships 300m long - which is as long as a Panamax super freighter.
Sadly, in the future there won't be a viable, biodiverse, seafood rich, clean and green Clarence River Estuary if the Berejiklian Coalition Government has its way.
BACKGROUND
North Coast Voices, 15 March 2017, Is the NSW Dept. of Industry seeking to significantly expand the Port of Yamba?
But that's not what this port expansion push is really all about, is it Gladys?
No, your government has decided that all three small regional ports ideally should become multipurpose ports which include commercial shipping, cruise shipping and defence facilities as well as extensive channel & mooring area dredging to at least an 8m minimum with channel access suitable for ships 300m long - which is as long as a Panamax super freighter.
Sadly, in the future there won't be a viable, biodiverse, seafood rich, clean and green Clarence River Estuary if the Berejiklian Coalition Government has its way.
BACKGROUND
North Coast Voices, 15 March 2017, Is the NSW Dept. of Industry seeking to significantly expand the Port of Yamba?
1 comment:
The next New South Wales state election is scheduled to be held on Saturday, 23 March 2019 and I'm willing to bet that the Nats want a run on the board they can point to on the North Coast to save their MPs up there from losing their seats.
Think Nats HQ believes that promising cruise ships and a terminal is the way to go - hoping the greed of some in business communities will help sway local voters into thinking they will benefit from this very bad idea.
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