The Port of Abbot Point is home to the North Queensland Export Terminal (NQXT), the most northerly deepwater coal port of Australia, situated approximately north-west of the town of Bowen,

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. Established in 1984, it consists of a rail in-loading facility, coal handling and stockpile areas, and a single trestle

jetty A jetty is a man-made structure that protrudes from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater (structure), breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French la ...

and conveyor connected to a berth and

shiploader A shiploader is a large machine used for continuously loading bulk solid materials such as iron ore, coal, fertilizers, grains and/or material in bags onto ships or barges. These machines are located in ports and jetties to facilitate bulk materi ...

, located 2.75 km off-shore. Coal reaches the port via the GAP railway line from the

Bowen Basin Coalfields The Bowen Basin Coalfields contains the largest coal reserves in Australia. This major coal-producing region contains one of the world's largest deposits of bituminous coal. The Basin contains much of the known Permian coal resources in Queen ...

. The Port of Abbot Point is of significant strategic value to North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation, as there are very few locations along Queensland's eastern seaboard where deep water (>15m) is so close in-shore. North Queensland Export Terminal has been operating for 35 years exporting coal.

Terminal 1

Adani Ports signed a 99-year lease on Abbot Point Terminal 1 in 2011. The deal cost

Adani Group Adani Group (, ) is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate, headquartered in Ahmedabad. Founded by Gautam Adani in 1988 as a commodity trading business, the Group's businesses include port, sea ...

$1.83 billion. Abbot Point Operations been contracted by North Queensland Export Terminal to manage the operations at the port of Abbot Point.

Expansion

The port is planned to provide export facilities for coal mined from the

Galilee Basin The Galilee Basin is a large inland geological basin in the western Queensland region of Australia. The Galilee Basin is part of a larger Carboniferous to Mid-Triassic basin system that contains the Cooper Basin, situated towards the south-west ...

. The terminal has approvals to be expanded with the addition of a second

wharf A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

and

as well as an additional onshore stockyard and machines, however this was tabled due to the sizing down of the Carmichael Mine. The road and railway to the port have been targeted at times by non-violent direct action by environmentalists opposed to coal exports. An environmental assessment which included a review of 16 environmental studies, found the port's expansion would not have a significant impact on the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

and that

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

's claims regarding the expansion's impact were overstated. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Protection Authority (GBRMPA) advised minister Greg Hunt not to approve dredging for the Abbott Point coal port expansion. The

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

was amended so that government does not have to consider expert advice before approving major developments such as mines and ports.

GVK-Hancock Coal

Federal approval for the port to be used by Hancock Coal to export coal from the Alpha Coal Project was granted on 10 October 2012. Conditions for the go-ahead included a

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine (ocean), marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four Family (biology), families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and ...

offset scheme, a

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

management plan, funding for

Indigenous ranger Indigenous ranger programs enable First Nations people across Australia to protect and manage their land, sea and culture through a combination of traditional knowledge with Western science and conservation practices. Introduced by the Australia ...

s, monitoring of air and water quality, amongst a total of 60 conditions aimed primarily to protect the Great Barrier Reef. For every of seagrass impacted by the port expansion, must be protected.

Bowen Orbital Spaceport

In May 2021, it was announced that private Australian rocket launch company

Gilmour Space Technologies Gilmour Space Technologies is a venture-funded Australian aerospace company that is developing hybrid-propellant rocket engines and associated technologies to support the deployment of a low-cost launch vehicle. Founded in 2012, Gilmour Spa ...

was given the go-ahead by the Queensland Government to build a rocket launch facility in Abbot Point. Gilmour Space's rocket, Eris, is expected to launch in early 2025 from the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in

Abbot Point The Port of Abbot Point is home to the North Queensland Export Terminal (NQXT), the most northerly deepwater coal port of Australia, situated approximately north-west of the town of Bowen, Queensland. Established in 1984, it consists of a ra ...

, Bowen.

References

External links

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Abbot Point
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Abbot Point
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Geoscience Australia Geoscience Australia is a statutory agency of the Government of Australia that carries out geoscientific research. The agency is the government's technical adviser on aspects of geoscience, and serves as the repository of geographic and geolo ...