Ship owner apologises after containers lost off coast

The Taiwanese shipping company that lost more than 80 containers off the NSW coast last week is expected to dock in Port Botany on Wednesday.

Clean up contractor Derrick Kennedy is seen clearing debris from the beach at Hawks Nest near Port Stephens. Source: AAP

The Taiwanese ship which lost 83 containers off the NSW coast is expected to dock in Sydney after its owners apologised for the hundreds of kilos of lost cargo washing up on pristine beaches.

The YM Efficiency, making its way from Taiwan to Sydney, was last week hit by heavy swells about 30km off the coast of Port Stephens that toppled the containers into the sea and damaged another 30.

In the past four days, plastics, building materials and other items have washed ashore.

"We know that the marine incident has brought a lot of public concern," Yang Ming Marine Transport spokesman Steven Ka told AAP on Tuesday.

"We do apologise for all the inconveniences caused to local residents.

"Of course we will take full responsibility to recover and to minimise the impact to the marine environment."

The 43,000-tonne YM Efficiency is anchored off Sydney's Cronulla beach, as it waits its scheduled entry to Port Botany at 7.30am on Wednesday.

Locals, along with hundreds of people contracted by the ship's insurers, spent Tuesday cleaning up flotsam that included nappies, sanitary products, car parts and plastic on at least six beaches around Port Stephens.

Divers will also join the clean-up effort scouring the ocean bed to pick up sunken rubbish near Hawks Nest on Wednesday, a Roads and Maritime Safety spokesman said.

A shipping container washed up in the aftermath. Source: NSW Maritime

83 shipping containers went overboard the YM Efficiency due to rough seas last week. Debris has been washing ashore ever since. Source: AAP and NSW Maritime

"Continuing bad weather is hampering efforts," RMS spokesman Angus Mitchell said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Tomorrow the forecast is for the weather and visibility to improve slightly, so divers will be deployed."

Mr Ka is communicating daily via email with the ship's captain Chinsheng Yang who reported no injuries among about a dozen of the crew members aboard the vessel when the weather hit.

"We are trying to bring the vessel into the port as soon as possible," Mr Ka told AAP.

Investigations will be conducted by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority and the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau when the ship docks, which will determine whether further action will be taken.

"The vessel will continue her voyage to Melbourne and Brisbane and back to Asia (Taiwan and China)," Mr Ka told AAP.

"But this might change because first we need to bring the vessel to the port."