Gladstone’s boost will keep on going

Gladstone Ports Corporation shrugged off the first half blues of 2009 and announced a record throughput of more than 81 million tonnes for last year, of which coal made up over 58 million tonnes.

Around three-quarters of this is coking coal destined largely for Asian steel mills, while most of the rest goes to power stations, likewise in Asia.

Not only has Gladstone port seen record figures boosted by the growing eastern demand, but there are also big plans still afoot for the port’s planned Wiggins Island terminal.

Coal from the first of the large Wandoan mines being developed by Xstrata and its Japanese partners will probably be exported through the new terminal sometime in 2014. Figures suggest that this first mine will produce 25m tonnes, and the company is looking to develop three others with the same output. Port Alma, which sits to the north of Gladstone’s current operation, has at present a planned capacity of 35 million tonnes a year but has been carefully designed to be “let out at the seams” in order to be able expand on this considerably with an eye on the expected throughput from the developing mines. Construction of the new terminal is expected to start mid-year.

There’s no doubt that China’s returning thirst for coal is mitigating the impact of global economic downturn for Australian operations generally: China accounted for over 42% of the coal deals in Australia last year, according to Ernst & Young – but the recent report also noted that interest from local players has dropped off considerably.

(Source: Port Strategy)