Mangled shipping containers and debris wash up on coast

Debris from a cargo ship that spilled containers off Australia is continuing to wash up on beaches along the coastline.

Mangled containers dotted Birdie Beach at Budgewoi on the NSW Central Coast this morning, spilling their contents onto the sand.

Workers are in the process of trying to move the debris after the APL England docked in Brisbane this morning.

The ship rolled and lost 40 shipping containers when it hit heavy seas off the NSW coast earlier this week while en route from China.

The Singapore-flagged container ship experienced a temporary loss of propulsion during heavy seas about 73km south-east of Sydney just after 6.10am, AMSA said in a statement on Sunday.

The ship was en route from China to Melbourne.

“The ship’s power was restored within a few minutes but during this time the ship reported that it was rolling heavily, causing container stacks to collapse and several containers to fall overboard,” the statement said.

AMSA intends to send a Challenger jet to the area to look for containers and debris, as well as to inspect the ship for signs of damage or pollution.