East Coast Of Australia News

A climate change protest off Australia's east coast disrupted operations at the country's biggest coal export port on Saturday, the port operator said.Climate activist group Rising Tide, which claimed responsibility for the action, said around 1,500 people were at the protest, 300 of them in the shipping channel near the Port of Newcastle, as part of a 30-hour blockade set to run until 4 p.m. (0900 GMT) on Sunday.Climate change is a divisive issue in Australia, the world's biggest exporter of thermal coal behind Indonesia…

Fixed container securing arrangements on containership APL England were in poor state of repair and corroded prior to loss of dozens containers in heavy seas off Sydney, an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation found.The Singapore-flagged containership was making way down the east coast of Australia on May 24, 2020 when, in adverse weather, it underwent a series of heavy rolls that resulted in the loss of 50 containers overboard, and shutdown of the main engine.The…

BHP Group expects to receive three more bulk carriers powered partly by liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the next six to nine months, part of the company's plans to cut emissions from shipping, a senior executive said.BHP, which received its first two LNG-fuelled vessels earlier this year, has locked in some term supplies of LNG buffering the company from volatile prices and is studying the potential for biofuels, Fergus Eley, BHP's Head of Maritime Enterprise, told Reuters on the sidelines of the Singapore International Bunkering Conference and Exhibition (SIBCON) 2022.The world's largest miner and shipper of dry bulk commodities is targeting…

A preliminary investigation report published by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) details that a containership was rolling and pitching heavily in rough seas and high winds when it lost 50 containers overboard about 46 nautical miles south-east of Sydney in May 2020.The ongoing investigation’s preliminary report sets out the incident’s sequence of events and outlines that as the APL England travelled down the east coast of Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology issued regular forecasts regarding a complex low pressure system developing off the south-east of the country…

Australian-based shipbuilding group Austal said it has entered into an agreement to acquire compatriot ship repair and support business BSE Maritime Solutions Group.BSE Maritime Solutions, which operates in Cairns and Brisbane, serves defense, commercial, tourism and luxury vessel customers, including Australian Border Force, BAE Systems, Thales and Svitzer. The deal, which comes at an enterprise value of A$27.5 million (US$19.6 million), aligns with Austal’s strategy to continue building the its key support business…

Svitzer Australia has welcome two new vessels to its fleet in 2019, as two UZMAR-built RAstar 3200 series tugboats begin the journey from Turkey to their respective home ports.A delivery ceremony was hosted by UZMAR on 12 March 2019 for the two tugboats, Svitzer Ruby and Svitzer Redhead.The 85-tonne bollard pull tug, Svitzer Ruby, will join Port Kembla in May 2019, and the 80-tonne bollard pull tug, Svitzer Redhead, will join the team in Fremantle in late April 2019.The vessels were designed by the reputable Canadian naval architecture firm Robert Allan Ltd.The two escort towage capable vessels feature render recovery winches, FiFi1 class notation for firefighting…

The Robert Allan designed RAscal 1600 mooring launch EIMEO has been completed by Cheoy Lee Shipyards in Hong Kong and is on its way to the east coast of Australia on a heavy lift ship. The launch was built for Half-Tide Marine of Mackay in Queensland, Australia who will employ it at the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal, south of Mackay. The terminal, one of the largest coal terminals the world, has a ship loading facility some three kilometres off the east coast suitable for up to four 200,000 dwt bulk carriers. Although protected by the Great Barrier Reef, the fetch to the reef is enough that a considerable chop can develop which is not a problem for the bulk carriers but presents an operating challenge for a small line boat trying to pick up and deliver heavy ship’s hawsers.

HMAS Hobart has “slipped her lines” and set sail for the first time since commissioning on 23 September 2017. Her departure from Fleet Base East, Garden Island, Sydney on Wednesday heralded the much anticipated return to sea for the Guided Missile Destroyer (DDG) of the Royal Australian Navy. During her journey to and from Jervis Bay on the New South Wales south coast, HMAS Hobart’s ship’s company will perform a series of exercises to test core mariner skills. Commanding Officer, HMAS Hobart, Captain John Stavridis, said the ship’s company were eager to put their skills to the test. “This is really the first key milestone in proving that we can operate the warship safely and effectively,” he said.

The Australian Defence Force Joint Task Group, Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2017, has completed the first international engagement activity of the deployment. HMAS Adelaide, one of the Royal Australian Navy’s Canberra class amphibious ships, reached the milestone after recently conducting aviation training with the USS Bonhomme Richard off the east coast of Australia. The training involved both the SH60S Seahawk helicopter and a United States Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor, with a focus on flight deck familiarisation for the United States Marine Corps aircrew and currency training for Adelaide’s aviation support sailors. Commander of the Joint Task Group…

Japanese steelmakers have bought coking coal from the United States, Canada and China to replace supply lost after a cyclone closed rail links in Australia, their biggest supplier, industry and trader sources said. Still, the Japanese buyers are paying nearly double the $150 a tonnes price that they were discussing with sellers for second-quarter supply before the supply disruption. The supply talks are now on hold and prices will likely stay high until full volumes start flowing again. In 2016, Japan bought about 71 percent of the 59.9 million tonnes of coking coal it consumed from Australia. "We've tapped supplies by bringing forward shipping schedules of cargos from Canada and the United States…

Coal shipments from eastern Australia could stop for 3-4 weeks. Freight rates for large capesize dry cargo vessels on key Asian routes, which fell to multi-week lows this week, are likely to remain depressed in the absence of Australian coal cargoes and iron ore and coal from South Africa, brokers said. Coal shipments from ports including Hay Point have been badly disrupted after Cyclone Debbie struck eastern Australia last week, causing extensive flooding and resulted in mine closures with BHP Billiton declaring force majeure on coal shipments. "The market is saying nothing will come out of the east coast of Australia for three or four weeks. If that's the case, shipments will be cancelled and vessels will need to find fresh cargoes," a Singapore-based capesize broker said on Friday.

Stony corals are marine invertebrates with somewhat unique life cycles. For the most part, they reproduce sexually, broadcasting gametes into the water. Often, an entire coral colony or reef will spawn on the same night. Coral may also reproduce asexually by producing genetically identical polyps. Fertilized gametes drift in the current until, hopefully, they alight on a hard surface like a rock suitable for attachment. The gamete then develops into a polyp, producing a basal plate that affixes itself to the hard surface.

Capesize rates from Western Australia to China at 8-week high; shipowners parking ships off South Africa to stop rates falling. Freight rates for large capesize dry cargo vessels on key Asian routes could remain rangebound next week as abundant tonnage puts a ceiling on freight rates even as some owners resist attempts by charterers to push rates lower, brokers said. "I expect the market to take a breather. Rates have been on a yo-yo this week," said a Singapore-based capesize broker on Friday. Charter rates fell at the beginning of the week, but rebounded after charterers, including Cargill and Fortescue Metals Group, fixed ships from Brazil and Australia to China, he said.

HMAS Canberra has achieved another aviation milestone embarking two Army Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters for the first time. The two Tigers, will join two MRH-90 Taipan medium lift helicopters and one MH-60R Seahawk conducting first of class flight trials onboard the amphibious giant over the next six weeks. The trials are designed to find the safe operating limits of the helicopters during a variety of weather conditions, according to Lieutenant Grant Thaler, who will oversee the trials. Lieutenant Thaler is a Flight Test Engineer from the Navy's Aircraft Maintenance and Flight Trials Unit, based at HMAS Albatross, in Nowra. “I am looking forward to seeing just what we can achieve,” Lieutenant Thaler said.

Sydney City Marine has completed its first maintenance docking of a Damen vessel since the signing ofa Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Damen Shipyards Group last year. The works signify the successful cooperation between Damen Services in the Netherlands, the Damen Service Hub in Brisbane and Sydney City Marine. The vessel in question was the Svitzer Warang, a Damen ASD 2810 owned by global towage operator Svitzer. Sydney City Marinewascontracted by Svitzer to carry out a 5-year special survey on the vessel. The Svitzer Warangleft the yard just before Christmas 2016. “We performed a full-on scope of works on this tug,” explains Sydney City Marine Director Brenton Fischer. “This included all Lloyd’s Register requirements.

HMAS Melbourne has celebrated 25 years since she entered service with the Royal Australian Navy, proving her motto, ‘She gathers strength as she goes’. The guided missile frigate has steamed more than 1.5 million kilometres - about 37 times the earth’s circumference - and clocked up almost 62,000 hours underway, since commissioning on 15 February 1992 at Station Pier, Melbourne. Commanding Officer Commander Charles Bourne said the frigate still plays a pivotal role in the Australian fleet. “We are one of only three long-range air defence ships in the Navy and will remain so until the new Hobart class destroyers arrive,” Commander Bourne said. “We have just completed trials for the MH-60R Seahawk ‘Romeo’ helicopters in order to ensure the aircraft can be safely operated from the ship.

One of the Royal Australian Navy’s largest maritime warfare exercises has begun in several locations off the New South Wales coast. Exercise OCEAN RAIDER involves 11 warships and submarines, aircraft and more than 1,500 personnel from Australia and the United States in a three week program of maritime activities. It is the first year Navy has staged OCEAN RAIDER, which along with OCEAN EXPLORER and OCEAN HORIZON are designed to train and certify the fleet in task-group-level joint sea combat. Commander of the Australian Fleet, Rear Admiral Stuart Mayer said Navy’s aim was to generate and deploy self-supported, sustainable maritime task groups by 2018 and OCEAN RAIDER was an important step toward achieving that goal.

HMAS Melbourne has launched an Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile in a test off the east coast of Australia recently. The missile is a short range, self defence weapon, optimised for anti-ship missile defence. In the recent test, Melbourne’s combat system tracked and engaged, a Pheonix Jet unmanned aerial vehicle target drone operated by Air Affairs Australia. Melbourne's Air Warfare Officer, Lieutenant Rhys Ryan said the activity went smoothly. “The firing took months of preparation to understand the combat system, and how it’s various components integrated with each other,” he said. Able Seaman Electronics Technician Nazmi Kenar performed the role of Fire Control Officer, responsible for coordinating and controlling the full weapon systems under the direction of the Air Warfare Officer.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has issued and update on Tropical Cyclone Nathan, which has formed in the Coral Sea off the East coast of Australia. It appears that Cairns North may be affected, and Cape Flattery is currently closed awaiting the cyclone to pass. However, at this stage, it does not appear the Queensland Coal Ports will be affected though there is the possibility of heavy rainfall once the cyclone dissipates. The Port of Dampier is at Cyclone Response Stage 3 – Clear Port, and is commencing to clear the port and anchorages of all large vessels 12 hours ahead of the anticipated onset of gale force winds. to enable large vessels to put to sea at short notice or small vessels to move onto their designated cyclone moorings at short notice.

While searching for baby lobsters no bigger than a 50-cent piece, Australian researchers discovered a series of giant volcanoes off the coast of Sydney. The four previously unknown volcanoes, which are now extinct, are situated about 250 kilometres off Sydney in about five kilometres of water. The largest is 1.5 kilometres across the rim and rises 700 metres from the sea floor. They were uncovered by chance when marine biologists on Australia's new research vessel, the 94-metre Investigator, were searching the area for the nursery grounds of larval lobsters. One of the scientists on the voyage, oceanographer Moninya Roughan, said their discovery came as a complete surprise and was serendipitous because the ship was routinely mapping the sea floor.

An intensive three week submarine escape and rescue exercise has drawn to a close off the east coast of Australia. During Exercise BLACK CARILLON 2013, members of Navy’'s Submarine Force simulated being evacuated from HMAS Farncomb, which was bottomed in 112 metres of water, in the James Fisher Rescue Service LR5 submersible. The 21.5 tonne submersible was then lifted onto the deck of a rescue vessel, where its passengers were transferred into decompression chambers without being exposed to the outside air pressure.

The Hong Kong Shipowners Association (HKSOA) on Thursday called on the city's authorities to provide assistance to the crew of a Hong Kong-flagged coal ship off the east coast of Australia that is running out of food and fuel. Local Australian media and Great Britain's Guardian newspaper reported this week that the Five Stars Fujian, a 180,000 deadweight tonne capsesize class coal carrier, has been sitting in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef for the past month with supplies diminishing and salaries going unpaid. The HKSOA said in a statement that the ship was under detention by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), off the port of Gladstone, for breaches of the Maritime Labour Convention relating to lack of provisions and unpaid wages.

James Fisher Defence (JFD) has been awarded a special commendation from the Submarine Force Commander of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), as a result of their dedication and innovation demonstrated during Black Carillon 2013, a naval exercise conducted annually in order to test the capabilities of the Commonwealth’s submarine rescue provision. During the exercise, JFD and the RAN simulated a rescue from submarine HMAS Farncomb, bottomed in 112 meters of water off the east coast of Australia.