A HEAVY lift ship, the Happy Delta, is in Newcastle to remove two old coal loaders from the Carrington Coal Terminal, which were replaced last year as part of a $60-million overhaul.
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The replacement of the Carrington terminal’s three original coal loaders with two new models is a sign that despite the global controversy surrounding the environmental impacts of coal, the industry believes the Newcastle export industry will be here for decades to come.
Despite occasional residential pressure to shut Carrington – consolidating all of Newcastle’s coal-loading on the industrially focused Kooragang Island – terminal operator Port Waratah Coal Services has a long-term lease at Carrington and says it has a good relationship with those living nearby.
The terminal’s coal stockpiles are visible from Industrial Highway at Tighes Hill, adjacent to the former BHP steelworks administration building, and its berths, numbers 4 and 5 Dyke, are at the ends of Parker Street and Elizabeth Street, Carrington.
Chief executive Hennie du Plooy said on Friday that the two new coal loaders installed last year were much quieter than the ones they replaced.
They had “fully enclosed booms” meaning that any coal spilling from a conveyor belt overflow would be contained within the machinery.
Mr du Plooy said Carrington was limited to 25 million tonnes of coal a year under its operating licence, and this amount could be moved using only two coal loaders, rather than the three that were decommissioned last year. One old loader was taken away last year on the ship, Happy Buccaneer, that brought the two new replacement loaders to Newcastle, and the Happy Delta had now arrived to take the remaining two.
The new loaders weighed about 700 tonnes each, compared with about 450 tonnes for the old ones, which will be cut up for scrap.
PWCS statistics show Carrington is operating under its licence capacity, shifting 20 million tonnes in 2014, 16.3 million tonnes in 2015 and 15.1 million tonnes in 2016. By comparison, PWCS Kooragang moved 91.9 million tonnes in 2014, 92.6 million tonnes in 2015 and 94.4 million tonnes in 2016.
Carrington is the only Newcastle terminal to take trucked coal, receiving 35,700 tonnes in 2016 and more than 400,000 tonnes annually in 2014 and 2015.
