Image by Ellie-Marie Watts
On Thursday an enormous cargo carrier named YM Efficiency hit rough seas about 30 kilometres from Port Stephens. In the big swell, the ship lost 83 shipping containers into the ocean, which now—five days later—are distributing their contents along the NSW coastline.Apparently the shipping containers contained a mix of car parts, nappies, and beauty products, as that’s now what residents and volunteers are collecting from beaches. Many residents spent the weekend cleaning up, including journalist Ellie-Marie Watts, who tweeted these photos from Port Stephens.
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The ship, which was en route from Taiwan to Sydney, is currently sitting about 100 kilometres south of its destination. Sydney's harbour master Philip Holliday told the ABC it will be brought into harbour this week "under slow and careful assessment." Its operators are expected to face no fines, at this point.The Roads and Maritime Services have been tasked with collecting the tonnes of junk washing up onto the beaches. They’re also currently asking members of the public to leave the job to paid contractors.
In the meantime there’s concern from environmental groups that contractors will take too long, leaving native marine life vulnerable to entanglement and choking."I don't know what else was in these containers, if there was anything toxic, but certainly turtles and whales and large marine creatures think they are food and swallow the stuff," Port Stephens EcoNetwork's Nigel Dique told the AAP. He also said that his team of volunteers had filled at least 20 large garbage bags over the weekend."There were broken clocks, bits of structural plastic material, and lots of jars and food items packaged in plastic," Nigel said.It's likely that flotsam will be washing up along the coast for months.