13.07.2007

Crane at centre of explosion worry

A mobile crane's ruptured hydraulic line put the Port of Newcastle in Australia on high alert to prevent an explosion.
Earlier this week, authorities scrambled to prevent when the 150 litres of oil spilled onto about 30 bags of ammonium nitrate - used as an explosive in the mining industry.

The bags, wrapped first in plastic and then in polypropalene, were among about 2000 being loaded onto the cargo vessel Priam at Kooragang Island, in the Port of Newcastle.

The emergency workers spent more than 12 hours removing about 150 bags from the ship's hold.

The Priam was turned from port to starboard at its berth to allow an 80-tonne shore-based crane to remove the bags.

Assistant Fire Brigades Commissioner Bob Dobson said the one-tonne bags were removed by a crane, loaded onto a truck and taken to another location where they were inspected and cleaned.

The crew was evacuated from the ship but the ship's master stayed on board to assist in the operation.

“The ammonium nitrate is a product that is commonly used in the mining industry as an explosive when it's mixed with certain proportions of oil,” Mr Dobson said. ”That's why we're taking the extreme safety line."

Emergency services took the precaution of establishing a one-kilometre exclusion zone around the ship, affecting coal loading operations at the adjacent Kooragang Island coal terminal.