The formation of a powerful cyclone in the Coral Sea that is threatening Queensland’s north-eastern coastline has forced the local harbour masters to suspend three shipping terminals for coals exports in the state.
Image credit: flickr User: KiwiHugger
According to the news article on Platts, Glencore’s Abbot Point terminal, BHP Billiton’s Hay Point terminal and the Dalrymple Bay terminal which is operated by Canadian company Brookfield Asset Management, stopped loading coal onto vessels on Tuesday, sources at the terminal said.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has warned on Tuesday that the cyclone was developing in the Coral Sea, approximately 870 km east-northeast of the north Queensland town of Cairns.
Due to the imminent danger posed by cyclone Edna, about 20 ships waiting to load coal exports at the Dalrymple Bay terminal were forced to move further out to sea on Monday as a safety precaution.
“The terminal has suspended berthing operations. Ships are at anchor and cannot get tugged into the terminal,” said a second terminal source, adding it was not clear when shiploading operations would resume.
“There is 1.2 million metric tons of coal in the yard currently, which is getting close to capacity,” said the second source.
Coal shipment operations at neighbouring Hay Point coal terminal were also halted on Tuesday.
“BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance confirms that shiploading at Hay Point coal terminal has ceased temporarily due to weather conditions,” BHP Billiton, the terminal’s operator, said in an emailed statement, adding that the company was monitoring the cyclone weather system closely and would resume ship berthing at Hay Point as soon as it becomes safe to do so.
Ship-loading operations were also halted at the Glencore-operated Abbot Point coal terminal which is situated higher up on Queensland’s coast, in close proximity to the town of Bowen.
The dire weather conditions have prevented a total of 31 ships to load cargoes at the three affected Queensland coal terminals, representing about 4.5 million metric tons of coal exports.
According to the statement issued by the North Queensland Bulk Ports Corp., the port authority for Abbot Point and Hay Point ports, individual harbour masters in Queensland take the lead in determining whether to close a port or not in the event of a tropical cyclone.
In the event of delays to ship loadings at ports, shipowners usually expect compensation in the form of demurrage payments from the charterers of those ships or from coal producers.
