Barge keeps rubbish IN CHECK
IMAGES BY TARA HOYLE
A lot of work goes into keeping Sydney Harbour clean. On average more than 3500cu m of waste and debris, equivalent to about 150 truck and trailer loads, is collected from the harbour every year.
hazards to navigation and plain flotsam and jetsam from vessels.
I Rubbish collection in the harbour began in the early
1900s, when the "rat catchers" of Sydney were formed to combat the spread of bubonic plague. In the 1930s they became the Harbour Cleaning Service, a crew of hardy souls in timber rowing boats who didn't mind the salt, spray or smell. About two decades later the wooden boats gained the luxury of engines, but matters really changed in 1990 when the New South Wales Maritime Authority became responsible for cleaning the harbour and the state's navigable waterways and established the Harbour
62 NZ WORKBOAT REVIEW 2012
t ranges from large objects such as trees and tyres to debris washed down stormwater drains from the harbourside suburbs, small items or rubbish left behind on the beaches and foreshore by the public,
Cleaning Branch, which became Environmental Services in 2002.
A team of 15 operate eight vessels which work almost
every day cleaning the harbour and the navigable waters of the Parramatta and Lane Cove Rivers. This area covers 5020sq km and has a total foreshore length of 270km. The recent delivery of ES8 is another example of
Environmental Services' pro-active fight against urban pollution of its local marine waterways. It demonstrates increased environmental engagement and provides a strong focus on environmental performance among the commercial and recreational fleets on the harbour. An additional duty, for example, involves ensuring building contractors deploy anti-pollution booms and skirts around foreshore construction sites. How did the New Zealand company Q-West get
to build ES8 for an Australian state department, when it is common knowledge that Australia's government tender process is notoriously difficult for any New Zealand company to navigate. While not suggesting any trans-Tasman bias, Q-West's success speaks heaps of this company's ability in a competitive international market.
The tender process was clearly locally based, with a
registration of interest and briefing in Sydney. Potential applicants had to pay an A$200 deposit to receive a tender package for the build only. Q-West asked New
The well appointed conning position
