Port of Newcastle, Australia: innovation at one of the world's largest coal-export terminals

The Port of Newcastle at the mouth of the Hunter River in New South Wales is Australia's largest coal-export port, with an annual throughput of 120 Mt a year. It has been significantly expanded over the past 10 years to keep up with the international demand for local Hunter Valley-produced coal, particularly from Japan. This includes a new £1·6 billion, 136 ha coal-export terminal on Kooragang Island, which is due for completion by the end of 2013. This paper describes the planning, design and construction of the state-of-art international coal-export facility.