The operator of the Dalrymple Bay coal terminal in Queensland declared force de majeure yesterday after advising capacity would be halved for the next six weeks following the collapse of a reclaiming boom.
However, port owner Prime Infrastructure has told the Australian Stock Exchange it would not be affected financially because of arrangements which “pass through handling costs to the users”
The handball of costs could severely impact coal operations and company bottom lines, in a time when demurrage and lack of rail infrastructure has already severely affected companies.
Blair Athol, Riverside, German Creek, Oaky Creek, North Goonyella, Burton, Moranbah North, Foxleigh, Coppabella and Hail Creek all ship coal through Dalrymple Bay.
Macarthur Coal business development and investor relations general manager Shane Stephan said Macarthur was currently assessing the impact.
“There are definitely going to be impacts, there’s no doubt about that. However we can’t determine that exact impact as yet because the rules of how to share throughput capacity between the users is still being determined,” said Stephan.
Macarthur and other Dalrymple users need to assess the physical impact on shipping throughput rates, the internal effect on shipping schedules and then assess any mitigation to limit impact, before reaching a final financial cost.
The terminal is expected to operate at about 40% of nameplate capacity for the next two weeks, increasing to 50% for the following four weeks, after the collapse of a reclaiming boom on the dedicated reclaiming machine (RL1) February 15.
The machine is one of eight that moves stockpiled coal to conveyor belts for loading onto ships.
During the six week period safety checks will be carried out on other yard machines, RL1 will be removed, associated conveyor systems repaired and the terminal’s stockyard reconfigured to maximise available capacity.
Prime Infrastructure said it expected the reconfiguration to restore terminal capacity to about 95% of pre-incident capacity until RL1 has been repaired or replaced.
Dalrymple Bay opened in 1983 and is the largest coal exporting facilities in Australia, moving more than 55 million tonnes of coal a year.
It was established to export coal from mines not owned by the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance – which operates the neighbouring Hay Point terminal.
