Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Hay Point Coal Terminal

One of the most interesting parts of the road trip was visiting the Hay Point Coal Terminal, 38km south of Mackay. It was constructed around 1970 and had undergone many expansions over the years. What goes on there?? Well coal is transported from mines to the terminal, where it is stacked in stockpiles before being loaded onto ships...the coal then goes all over the world. It is one of Australia's largest and most efficient coal receival and export facilities.

The average cargo of each ship is 93,000t!!! Ships are loaded at 2 different loading berths; one with a capacity to load 6,000 tonnes per hour!! Shows just how big the coal industry really is in Australia.

Check out these sites for some more simple info if you're interested:
http://www.bmacoal.com/opencms/export/sites/bccom/operations/HayPoint/

http://www.bhpbilliton.com/bbContentRepository/Presentations/HPTPortPresentation+Analystpres12June02.pdf

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