Australia’s fourth largest port achieved a record financial year in 2009, handling more than 83,000,000 tonnes of coal, grain and other goods. The company managing this impressive growth is Gladstone Ports Corporation Limited.
Gladstone Ports Corporation (GPC) is a government-owned corporation that manages and operates three port precincts: the Port of Gladstone, Port Alma Shipping Terminal and the Port of Bundaberg. Gladstone is Queensland’s largest multi-commodity port, housing the world’s fourth largest coal export terminal.
Port Alma Shipping Terminal facilitates the import and export of niche market products including ammonium nitrate, explosives, general cargo, salt, frozen beef, tallow and scrap metal. Gladstone, and Port Alma in the Fitzroy River delta near Rockhampton, are both sheltered from the heave of the Pacific behind opposite ends of Curtis Island, while Bundaberg lies some 100 kilometres to the south.
The Port of Gladstone traces its history back to 1914, while the other two are even older, having been founded in 1896. However, the government-owned corporation (GOC) that now unites them didn’t come into existence until 2008.
Between them the three sites employ 684 people carrying out operations that include ship loading and unloading, harbour works, quarry operations, reclamation works, general maintenance and administration.
The Port of Gladstone’s major cargo today is coal. To give some idea of how the scale of operations has developed, coal was first handled in 1925 at Auckland Point at a ship loading rate of 100 tonnes per hour (tph). Today at GPC’s RG Tanna Coal Terminal (RGTCT), coal is loaded at an amazing 6,000 tph, with Barney Point Coal Terminal (BPCT) loading at 3,000 tph. But this did not happen at random. During the early 1950s the port transformed from a declining primary industry export base (handling cattle, etc) to the multimillion-tonne export centre it is today. GPC assumed a unique role in 1954 when it pioneered bulk coal handling in Queensland—not only did it develop the facilities, but it opted to operate them, a role it continues today on a vastly expanded scale.
The three ports handle the export of resources from Central Queensland and of finished products from local industries, notwithstanding the global trade downturn, which knocked 4.3 per cent off expected coal export volumes for example. Coal exports in 2009/10 were up 7.5 per cent on the previous year’s figures, reaching a record 60.4 million tonnes. As the effects of the downturn start to diminish, business is expected to become even brisker in the current financial year, when the Port of Gladstone is forecast to handle a total of 89.8 million tonnes of cargo, an impressive 7.8 per cent increase on last year. Trade growth in 2010/11 is expected to come primarily from the coal industry, with coal exports forecast to reach 67.0 million tonnes.
The ever-increasing demand for coal from India and China should see sustained growth in this important part of GPC’s trade. A multibillion-dollar liquefied natural gas (LNG) project on Curtis Island has won approval from the Queensland State Government. This has diverted GPC from coal as its central focus, and given it another completely new industry to consider. While the corporation does not intend to miss any opportunity to fulfil the needs of its powerful coal mining customers, keeping a close eye on the mining companies’ proposal for a new coal terminal at Wiggins Island, it is now working closely with the LNG sector. LNG, highly compressed methane which can be piped in from coal mines, landfill and other sources, is seen by many as the automotive fuel of the future, encouraged by many cities as a pollution-free way of keeping traffic on the roads. As the host port for this new industry, it is now developing protocols for the safe movement of LNG ships in Gladstone harbour.
The Wiggins Island Coal Terminal (WICT) and the imminent major LNG export hub on Curtis Island stimulated GPC to prepare to develop the Western Basin in the Port of Gladstone into the most significant industrial port precinct in Australia. Under the GPC 50-year Strategic Plan, the Western Basin is highlighted as the major future growth area for port infrastructure. Proposals for the LNG export hub on Curtis Island have triggered an environmental impact study (EIS) process for the Western Basin Dredging and Disposal Project—perhaps the largest dredging approval ever sought in the nation. This EIS submission is being processed through both Queensland government and Australian government regulatory agencies for approval.
During the year, work commenced on the logistics facilities that will service the movement of people and materials between the mainland and Curtis Island during the construction of LNG compression and storage infrastructure there. Work also commenced on constructing storage areas for pipes which will be used in the construction of the coal seam gas (CSG) pipeline between the gas fields and Curtis Island.
The WICT Project design process was completed during 2009/10. The terminal, with an ultimate capacity of approximately 80 million tonnes a year, has been designed for construction in three stages. Construction is expected to take three years and will create approximately 800 jobs.
Safety is always one of the most important concerns in the hazardous environment of a port, where every ship movement or loading operation is a hazard. As GPC’s CEO Leo Zussino says: “A robust management system provides the cornerstone of a strong safety culture.” The workforce has doubled since 1995, and Zussino expects it to increase to over 1,000 by 2015, so the port’s Site Safety Committee has worked closely with management on a daily basis to remind workers to act safely for their interest and that of fellow employees. “In the coming year, we plan to transition to the internationally accredited AS4801 Safety Management System and this, along with enhanced data capture and analysis capabilities, will provide the prerequisites for improved performance,” says Zussino.
Far from being a minor provincial harbour, remote from any large population centres, Gladstone looks like becoming in its own right one of the fastest-growing industrial hubs in Australia. Since consolidating under the GPC ‘brand’, it has adopted world class environmental, safety and materials handling practices, a Continuous Improvement Programme (CIP) and excellent corporate social responsibility policies.
One of the community engagement highlights during the year was the release of the first edition of a five-part port history. The publication documented the role of the indigenous community in the pre-European settlement of Gladstone and the early history of the port’s development up until 1934, and this has been presented to schoolchildren throughout the region. www.gpcl.com.au
