Incidents Response

As part of the Port Safety Operating Licence (PSOL), Sydney Ports Corporation is responsible for emergency response to marine-based incidents and for the clean-up of any environmental spills. In response to oil spills, Sydney Ports Corporation has responsibility for Sydney Harbour, Botany Bay and for 90km of the New South Wales coastline for three nautical miles out to sea.

Sydney Ports highly-trained emergency response team answers more than 200 reports of marine pollution each year, with 98 per cent of reports found to be unrelated to commercial shipping activities and attributed to pollution from recreational vessels, debris or land-sourced run-off.

Sydney Ports operates two emergency response tugs, the Shirley Smith and the Ted Noffs, that are used for fire-fighting, oil spill response, salvage and vessel assistance. Additional rapid response vessels are in use to quickly combat environmental incidents, such as oil spills, and to attend fires and other marine incidents and emergencies.

In applying the NSW Dangerous Goods (General) Regulations 1999, Sydney Ports trained staff conduct over 3,000 audits annually of vessels transferring bulk oil, gas and chemicals to ensure operations are conducted safely.

Sydney Ports provides a 24 hour emergency response that can deal with incidents in both Sydney Harbour and Botany Bay. Any port related emergencies should be reported 24 hours a day on +61 2 9296 4000.