Coal Ships Seek to Avoid Path of Queensland Cyclone

February 02, 2011 By Ben Sharples

(Bloomberg) -- Coal ships sailed away from the Queensland coast after ports and rail transport lines were closed as Tropical Cyclone Yasi approached Australia, the biggest exporter of the fuel.
At least 32 vessels have headed out to sea after Hay Point harbor and the Abbot Point export terminal were shut, according to North Queensland Bulks Ports Corp. and Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal Pty. Yasi, a category five storm, is expected to strike the coast late today, packing winds in excess of 280 kilometers (174 miles) an hour.

“They’ll try and move away from land,” Greg Smith, general manager of operations at the Dalrymple Bay export facility, said by phone today. “Their biggest fear will be getting blown onto some form of shallow, so they’ll probably seek deeper water off the continental shelf, or try and steam as far south, where they’ll be out of reach of the winds.”
BHP Billiton Ltd., Rio Tinto Group and Xstrata Plc are among producers that export through Hay Point, the world’s biggest export harbor for steelmaking coal. Yasi was 445 kilometers east of Cairns at 10 a.m. local time, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Category five is the highest level in the storm classification system.

About 30 ships were waiting to load at Dalrymple Bay, Smith said. The facility is one of two terminals at Hay Point, about 1,000 kilometers north of the state capital Brisbane, and has combined capacity to export 129 million tons a year.
‘Deeper Anchorages’
“For the safety of the vessels and crew, they are sent to deeper anchorages,” Mary Steele, a Brisbane-based spokeswoman for North Queensland Bulk Ports, said in an e-mailed response to questions today. The company manages Abbot Point, 25 kilometers north of the town of Bowen. Two ships were waiting to load cargoes, Steele said.

Abbot Point has one terminal with an export capacity of 21 million tons a year. It shipped 16.9 million tons and handled 224 vessels in the 12 months ended June 30, 2010, the North Queensland Bulk Ports Corp website shows. Bowen is about 1,100 kilometers north of Brisbane.
QR National Ltd., Australia’s biggest transporter of coal by rail, halted train services on the Newlands line to Abbot Point and the Goonyella network serving Hay Point, Mark Hairsine, a spokesman for the company, said yesterday.

The cyclone, which comes just weeks after the state’s capital Brisbane was hit by the worst flooding since 1974, is “likely to be more life threatening than any experienced during recent generations,” according to the bureau. It is forecast to be more severe than Cyclone Larry, which wiped out most of Australia’s banana crop and devastated sugar cane fields when it struck northern Queensland almost five years ago.
--Editors: John Viljoen, Paul Gordon.

QR National struggles to recover coal network

Saturday, 22 Jan 2011

As floodwaters gradually recede, the impact on Queensland's coal network customers and tonnages including the cost of recovery is yet to be fully assessed.
While Freight Rail provider QR National said that there is progress on the recovery efforts across the company’s operations, total coal tonnages across the QR National coal network, which is used by both QR National and Pacific National trains, is expected to continue to be impacted over coming weeks.
QR National said that the Moura coal line was opened to traffic last week and the Blackwater network is now targeted to re open late this week, following a detailed track inspection.
The company said that “The Newlands line to Abbot Point Coal terminal near Bowen continues to operate. This system has remained open throughout and while it operated at reduced railings in December it has recovered well in January.”
QR National said that “The Goonyella network into the ports of Dalrymple Bay and Hay Point, south of Mackay, is also still operating, despite being closed from 24 to 30 December following the derailment of a Pacific National train near Yukan. The network is currently working at around 70 percent capacity due to reduced coal availability.”
QR National said that “The Blackwater network that feeds into the port of Gladstone is expected to re open this week, following a detailed inspection and assessment of flood damaged track.”
It said that “The system has been closed since December 27. QR National has mobilized resources, both people and equipment, to ensure repairs are completed efficiently. On current estimates, services are expected to resume on the line as early as Thursday (20 Jan), pending no significant rain and recovery operations proceeding as planned. It is planned that services would be available from Burngrove (near Blackwater) east from that time, and then progressively to mines located on the (northern) Gregory branch from the weekend (22/23 January).”
QR National said that “Precise dates for resumption of services for the Minerva and Rolleston mines are yet to be determined."
In southern Queensland, QR National said that it is unable to operate services west of Brisbane because of flooding and damage to the rail line on the Toowoomba Range following a landslide on 10 January.
Mr Lance Hockridge MD of QR National said that “QR National is awaiting further advice from the network owner, Queensland Rail, on the extent of the damage to infrastructure and likely timeframe for restoration of the track.” He added that “We are unable to provide services to coal customers, west of Brisbane and to grain and general freight customers in south-west Queensland.”
QR National's general freight services along the North Coast Line to locations beyond Gladstone to Cairns are not able to operate because the line remains cut by floodwaters at Rockhampton. This is expected to continue through this next week.
(Sourced from www.supplychainreview.com.au)