She made the announcement at yesterday’s PWCS board meeting.

Doyle will remain in an advisory role until October and the company said beyond that time she would continue with other directorships and personal interests.

“Eleven years is a long time to serve in such a leadership capacity, and after such an engaging and busy period the time feels right to let new hands oversee the PWCS board,” Doyle said.

“I leave with multiple fond memories and a strong sense that the achievements of the past 11 years have been worthwhile.

“These achievements are a credit to everyone from the board down to the hands-on employees.”

PWCS general manager Graham Davidson said Doyle had steered PWCS through some of the most difficult but successful times in the history of the Hunter Valley coal chain.

“Her commitment and approach to Hunter coal exporting – which in 2008 alone totalled more than $A13 billion– has been sure-footed and unwavering,” he said.

“We are at the edge of major reforms that have been extremely difficult to arrive at, and this is in no small part due to Eileen’s advocacy for PWCS and the entire Hunter Valley coal chain.”

Since December 1998, Doyle has overseen PWCS execute an infrastructure program costing over $1 billion and helped the company achieve a number of milestones.

These include the formation of the Hunter Valley Coal Chain Logistics Team and the ramp-up of export capacity from 77 million tonnes per annum to 113Mtpa.

Doyle has also helped contribute to the current development of a long-term contractual structure for the Hunter Valley’s coal industry.

In addition, she chaired the PWCS Health, Safety and Environment Committee, which has seen the lost-time injury frequency rate drop from 12.8 in 1999 to a mere 0.7 in 2008.

PWCS is the world’s largest coal-loading operation.