Port of Newcastle aims to hit its annual 50,000 container movement cap within two years as part of the first stage of plans to develop a fully fledged container terminal.
Following the arrival of two mobile cranes in August, work is now underway on the construction of a 12,000 square metre hardstand storage area adjacent to Mayfield 4 berth. The area, which is due to be complete at the end of March, will have capacity to store 2000 containers.
Work is due to commence in January on the expansion of the berth area to allow it to accommodate vessels up to 300 metres in length.
All up, the port is investing $60million on Stage One of its container terminal vision.
"People are arguing that it (the Newcastle Container Terminal) will never work. By doing this work we are saying here is the market, we have tested it and we are up to our (container) cap; where do we go from here?," Port of Newcastle executive manager, projects and assets Glenn Thornton said.
The development of a fully-fledged container terminal, is dependent on the successful passage of a bill moved by Independent Lake Macquarie MP Greg Piper to remove the Port Commitment Deeds.
The deeds, which the state government entered into as part of the privatisation of Port Botany and Port Kembla in 2013, require the government to compensate NSW Ports if container traffic at the Port of Newcastle exceeds annual indexed cap.
The cap presently sits at about 50,000 containers annually. By comparison Port Botany moves about 2.5million containers annually.
"Once that restriction is lifted there is another $2.4billion worth of private investment that will come into Newcastle. That investment won't just be servicing the Hunter but the whole of the west and northwest of NSW," Mr Thornton said
The berth is presently being used to load and export a diverse range of cargo.
Several ships carrying wind turbines have been unloaded in recent months.
Three ships with ammonium nitrate supplies for Hunter mines also arrived this week in addition to a ship carrying turbine components for Snowy Hydro's Hunter Power Project at Kurri.
"This is turning into quite a busy berth and it's going to be even busier when we have containers. It's economic activity; we will need a new workforce not only for the logistics but also the trade side of things," Mr Thornton said.
The two German-built Liebherr cranes, named Kenny and Sir Lifts-a-lot, have a an outreach of 54 metres and a lifting capacity of 104 tonnes. They have the capability to work in tandem for heavy lifts and lift two 20ft or one 40ft container in a single move.
The port has also partnered with Macquarie's Green Investment Group to support the development of a hydrogen economy in the Hunter Region.
The Port of Newcastle Hydrogen Hub, part of a broader clean energy precinct, will initially be underpinned by a large electrolyser and ammonia loop providing green product for domestic decarbonisation that is supported by a range of Project Partners including SnowyHydro, Jemena, Keolis Downer, Lake Macquarie City Council and Idemitsu.
The first stage of $3 million feasibility study in the hydrogen hub has been concluded.
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