Superior environmental protection
Located between industrial Port Kembla and residential Wollongong, adjacent to the municipal beach and golf course, public interest was very strong. The Government pledged to the local community environmental protection standards superior to any other coal port in the world.
Capacity
Minimum annual capacity of 15 million tons for 16 grades of coal in Phase I, with provision to expand to 25 million tons in Phase II. Phase I to load 120,000 DWT ships to full draft 160,000 DWT ships to partial draft. .
One hour train tum-around time
Environmentally acceptable unloading of 200,000 trucks a year
The old facility handled trucks around the clock. Restricting truck unloading to daylight hours plus other environmental improvements were important factors in gaining community acceptance.
High reliability
It was important to guard the coal industry against the kind of disruptions experienced at other ports due to fires or breakdown of major machines.
Ease of maintenance and clean up
Early completion
No budget over-runs
It was essential to avoid the type of cost over-runs experienced in the construction of coal ports.
Competitive per ton capital cost
To maintain the competitive position of New South Wales coal, the approved budget had a capital cost of $9.00 per ton of annual capacity, including dredging, contingency and escalation.
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