An Unwanted Tourist Attraction Out in the Bay
It looks as though we’re about to get a rather unwanted tourist attraction in the waters of Hervey Bay for the next few months.
The Shen Neng 1 … the coal carrier that ran aground on the Barrier Reef north of Gladstone … is to be towed south to Hervey Bay and anchored between Fraser Island and the mainland while it’s cargo of coal is unloaded.
Once its cargo has been unloaded it will be towed to an overseas destination … at least that’s the plan. I wonder if anyone really knows how to remove a huge cargo of coal from a vessel that’s anchored out to sea rather than moored to a wharf.
April 30th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
It might be good for tourism as there is not much else here for tourists.
May 1st, 2010 at 4:08 pm
One would have to ask, why bring this ship to Hervey Bay and take the risk of doing the coal transfer at sea?
Surely it would have been better to do it at a coal loading wharf where they have the facilties to handle bulk coal.
What has our council and tourist operators had to say about this risky action?
May 10th, 2010 at 10:29 am
We are planning to move to Hervey Bay in the near future. All I have read about the council is very discouraging. I have emailed them several times begging for a street map of the town, and they don’t even show the courtesy of an answer. I have no idea who has control of what goes on in the waters of the Bay itself, but it seems to me that the council should be screaming their heads off about a potential disaster in the Bay. All we hear is silence, and it’s getting deafening! I wonder what their excuses will be if the worst should happen.
May 10th, 2010 at 10:54 am
“I have emailed them several times begging for a street map of the town, and they don’t even show the courtesy of an answer”
Tell me about it … I’ve given up emailing Council or even phoning them. They have never replied to one of my emails and they have never returned any of my phone calls.
As for the coal carrier … well the Council has no jurisdiction in the matter and the Mayor thinks that if it sinks it will make a great artifical reef. Ignorance is bliss so they say.
Stuart
May 11th, 2010 at 10:40 am
Thanks Stuart. Now I’m trying to figure out if I feel better!? LOL
Does anyone have a suggestion where I could get a street map of Hervey Bay? (Not the tourist map with all the adverts on it.) Thanks for your help.
May 11th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Hi, there are maps available at local service stations, though that doesn’t help before you get there. We are also moving to the area but got one of these mapson a visit, but what I noticed when we got ours was that Hervey is growing so fast that it wasn’t very accurate. Sorry this isn’t more helpful, though maybe it could be a good business project for a new comer…LOL
May 12th, 2010 at 9:54 am
afriend should try contacting the info centre. when we asked for info they sent us maps etc
cheers allan d
May 28th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
I have to start by disagreeing with Brian. I have visited Hervey Bay as a UK tourist a 4 times in the last 4 years. I will also be visiting again in late October this year. Hervey Bay is a great place for a tourist. The first few times i came I did the whole Whale Watching and Fraser Island stuff. Since that though I have simply used HErvey Bay as a place to relax and chill out.
I am not sure about how the council performs but from the stories here it does seem that they need to change a little but thats where the people who write on this site and the other residents of Hervey Bay hold the cards. If they aren’t working for you vote for change (sorry to take a line from a UK political party there but it seems appropriate).
Now the main issue – the coal carrier. I am as unhappy about it being left in the Bay as anyone else, and I don’t live there (yet). I do think that the authorities should have given this a lot more thought. Fraser is a UNESCO world heritage site. Leaving a stricken coal carrier on it’s shores and unloading it there with the “spillage” potential is a real worry. Coal is not natural to the sea bed of Herey Bay, the marine life is not used to coal and a spillage would cause untold damage for years to come. Surely there are docks in Brisbane that this carrier could have been taken to for a safer offload. I don’t know if it is visible from the bay but I presume that if it is between fraser and the bay then it probably is. If that is the case I certainly hope it’s moved by October when I arrive and that no damage is caused in the operation to offload it and move it again.
May 30th, 2010 at 6:49 pm
Fortunately Nigel the unloading operation has been completed and the ship has been towed back to Gladstone to await the arrival of a sea-going tug to tow it somewhere overseas.