Port Authority of New South Wales procedures to comply with its Port Safety Operating Licence and the NSW Coastal Waters Marine Pollution Plan were not effectively implemented. This resulted in delays to the required notifications and incident response, which contributed to prolonging the emergency.
To be advised
Response by Port Authority of New South Wales
The Port Authority of New South Wales (Port Authority) did not advise the ATSB that it had taken or proposed to take any safety action to address this safety issue. The Port Authority advised the ATSB that its roles and responsibilities under relevant state plans and its operating licence were limited to responding to spills (pollution) and because that did not occur during this incident, its role as a combat agency under the NSW Coastal Waters Marine Pollution Plan was not ‘enlivened’.
ATSB comment
The ATSB has significant concerns that the Port Authority has not taken safety action to address this safety issue, and its interpretation of its roles and responsibilities under the state’s plans and its operating licence. The ATSB considers the ongoing risk due to this issue is unacceptably high with potentially severe consequences in the event of a similar incident and has, therefore, issued the following safety recommendation to the Port Authority.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau recommends that the Port Authority of New South Wales takes safety action to adequately address this safety issue.
On 27 August 2025, the Port Authority of New South Wales (Port Authority) advised that it partially agreed with the ATSB’s recommendation associated with this safety issue and that it had taken the following action.
‘Port Authority has commenced a review process of the relevant state response plans along with Transport for New South Wales to identify the inconsistencies across the various legislative instruments with a view to updating plans as necessary and addressing any ambiguity across the relevant plans and instruments. Both organisations have committed resources to this formal review process.’
The ATSB notes that the Port Authority partially agreed with the ATSB recommendation and the action that it has taken. As this action involves ongoing reviews of legislative instruments and plans, the ATSB will seek an update from the Port Authority in January 2026 on the progress of these initiatives.
On 19 January 2026, the Port Authority of New South Wales (Port Authority) provided the following update.
The Port Authority and Transport for New South Wales (NSW Maritime) have worked on resolving the inconsistencies and ambiguities in the various emergency plans and documents that apply within NSW coastal waters for dealing with an incident such as that involving Portland Bay. Workshops have been held on 6 August, 17 September, 22 October and 17 December 2025.
The Port Authority also reviewed NSW emergency plans related to emergency response outside port areas. These included the Port Safety Operating Licence (PSOL), Coastal Waters Marine Pollution Plan, State Emergency Management Plan and the memorandum of understanding between the Port Authority, Fire & Rescue NSW and NSW Maritime. The Port Authority shared its review findings with NSW Maritime to improve clarity regarding their respective obligations in various emergency plans through a clear delineation between obligations to ensure clarity in maritime emergencies that originate in NSW coastal waters.
A further workshop between the two agencies was planned for February 2026 to continue the work in this area.
The ATSB welcomes the Port Authority’s engagement with NSW Maritime to address this issue. However, this Port Authority update and NSW Maritime’s update of 20 January 2026 show that they have differing views about their respective obligations for the effective coordination of the state’s emergency response under the NSW Plan. The safety issue remains to be addressed and the ATSB will request the Port Authority to provide another update in July 2026.
