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TERMINAL DESIGN

In his current role as general manager o the Aurecon

Hatch joint venture, Ross Parslow is almost uniquelyplaced to ofer meaningul insights into trends in

Australian coal terminal design. In this interview he

speaks to ABHR editor Charles Macdonald.

Aurecon Hatch, and its predecessors, has been heavily in-volved in designing and delivering green fields and brownfields coal terminals across NSW and Queensland for 40 years.

Ross forged his career in the 1980s working on Queenslands

coal railways, and was part of a team that designed the electri-

fication of the system. He joined BHP Engineering in 1990 and

worked on various coal projects, continuing in the same vein

under new parent Hatch. He stepped out of the industry for a

few years early in the new millennium, returning to assume thegeneral manager role at Aurecon Hatch in 2007.

According to Ross, underpinning development trends in coal

export terminals is a shift in thinking by coal chain participants

from the individual elements of the chains, to a holistic view

from pit to port.

The coal industry is recognising the importance of planning

their coal export facilities from pit to port and dealing with the

whole cost of logistics of the coal export chain, including the

mine site, the rail infrastructure and operations and the coal ter-

minal costs, he said.

That is driving a much stronger focus on minimizing the

whole chain cost and maximizing the whole chain efficiency,more than we saw four or five years ago when there was more

emphasis on getting the best solution and deal for each part

of the chain independently, but unfortunately sometimes not

achieving overall efficiency.

The trend to pit to port thinking is manifesting as changes in

parameters of coal terminals.

Most of the new or expanding terminals are looking to oper-

ate on a rail to stock basis; that requires a larger stock yard, but it

makes the rail operation more efficient by reducing the variabil-

ity of demand on train services, explained Ross.

Another trend is the conscious planning of coal terminal de-

velopment to minimize demurrage costs.

The demurrage cost in coal export terminals has been veryhigh in recent years; some of that might be due to opportunistic

scheduling of vessels, but there are ways to design and manage

the terminal, both operationally and commercially, to ensure

that the terminal doesnt operate with long ship queues and does

operate with low demurrage costs.

Trends in coal terminal design

Aerial of Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal where Aurecon Hatch

recently completed the 7X expansion from 55 to 85Mtpa.

Ross Parslow, general manager, Aurecon Hatch.

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TERMINAL DESIGN

Our design of the NCIG terminal is an example of where

the parameters of terminal performance were set at the outset to

achieve minimum demurrage costs.

With the development of huge new inland coal basins the

Galilee, Surat and Gunnedah Ross expected larger scale mine

developments, more blending at mine sites, and less at terminals.

Coal terminals can be used to blend different coals but so-

phisticated blending adds to the cost of the coal terminal. Withthe development of very large scale operations of 20 to 30 Mtpa

in the new coal basins, this type of exporter is generally not look-

ing for blending in the coal terminal and instead aims to produce

blended products at the mine. Their desire is to have the termi-

nal as efficient as possible in getting those blended coals straight

through on to the ship at least cost.

However, there are other producers who do a lot of blending

at existing terminals, so there is a challenge for terminal design-

ers to meet both sets of requirements. The end result can be dif-

ferent terminal stockyard designs; in some cases that may mean

hybrid terminals with two different forms of stockyard in the

one facility, or it might suggest a commercial solution where one

terminal provides a service including blending, while an adjacent

terminal provides a different service without blending.Looking to the bigger picture, Aurecon Hatch conducted a

master planning exercise in 2007/2008 for the Queensland Gov-

ernment. Amongst other things, it speculated that export demand

for Queensland coal in 20 years could reach 400 million tones pa.

The company then considered where that demand would

originate, and how it could be handled by the three available

deep water coal terminal export sites at Abbot Point, Hay Point

and Gladstone.

A key part of the strategy for handling that growth, and a

task partly achieved through the Goonyella to Abbot Pt (GAP)

Project, was linking up the Goonyella and Abbot Point rail sys-

tems. This will allow northern Bowen Basin producers access to

Abbot Point where there is more latent expansion capacity than

at Hay Point.

Since that study was completed, the level of interest in de-

veloping the Galilee basin has grown enormously and all theGalilee producers are focused on Abbot Point. In my view, that

will increase the need for further potential expansion in the Hay

Point precinct, whether its the existing DBCT terminal site or an

adjacent site, said Ross.

Looking to the future, another key rail link wi ll be one link-

ing the Surat Basin with Gladstone.

Size-wise, the development of the huge new thermal coal

provinces is likely to see terminal expansions, of 30, 40 or 50

million tones pa, far larger than the incremental lifts of 5 or 10

million tonnes than predominated over the last 20 years.

The economies of scale in terminal development are best

when the rail in-loading and ship-loading streams are approach-

ing full utilization, explained Ross.

The incremental cost of a terminal expansion, of say 10Mtpa,can be low if it only requires additions to the stockyard, but it can

also be very high if we need, for example, to widen a jetty, or

build a new berth or dump station.

As the new mines that are driving development get larger, I

expect well see the owners of mines and terminals coordinate

their expansions so that they take place in large economic incre-

ments of a fully utilized dump station and ship-loader at a time,

typically 30Mtpa.

Ross Parslow

t: +61 7 3166 7250 | e: parslowr@aureconhatch.com

www.aureconhatch.com

Aurecon Hatch (formerly Connell Hatch)is Australias leading consultant focusedon the complete coal production chain,including coal mine plant and infrastructure,heavy haul rail transport, and coal exportterminals.

We have a track record of successfuldelivery of major export coal terminaldevelopments and expansions, including

the current 25Mtpa expansion at AbbotPoint, the recently completed 30Mtpaexpansion at Dalrymple Bay, and the new30Mtpa NCIG Terminal in Newcastle whichwe are currently commissioning, ahead ofschedule.

We integrate world class marine andmaterials handling engineering withsafe, reliable, cost effective project andconstruction management to deliver exportcapacity to Australias coal exporters.

Engineering, Project Management

and Operations Support

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OVERHEAD

Australian Bulk Handling Review: March/April 2010

TERMINAL DESIGN

Technology-wise, Aurecon Hatch, like other EPCM firms, is

increasingly applying 3D design software to materials handling

projects like coal terminals. We have long applied these systems

to process plants but until recently they were less used on bulk

handling work We did Dalrymple Bay 7X as a 2D project, but weare doing the designs in 3D for the Wiggins Island coal terminal and

Hay point expansions, said Ross. In future, unless theres a strong

drawing base in 2D, wed generally use 3D for terminal design.

In terms of staffing, setting up a team for a major EPCM ter-

minal project will typically require 80 to 100 people. Ross noted

that its not easy to find people with the right experience, espe-

cially if the coal industry expands as rapidly as expected, but we

are fortunate to be able to draw on a substantial pool of experi-

enced engineers, designers and project management staff from

Aurecon and Hatch.

Aurecon Hatchs corporate predecessors have had a long

tradition in coal terminal work. Aurecons forerunner Connell

Wagner was involved in the original design work for the AbbotPoint and Dalrymple Bay coal terminals and Hatch antecedent

BHP Engineering in the original Kooragang Island Coal Terminal.

Currently, and looking to the future, Aurecon Hatch is in-

volved in many of the terminal expansions and upgrades on the

east coast.

At Abbot Point, the firm is helping North

Queensland Bulk Ports complete the X50 ex-

pansion, while also advising on options for fur-ther terminals.

At Hay Point, where the 2nd stage expan-

sion has been completed, the firm is in detailed

design for a 3rd stage expansion for BMA.

At Dalrymple Bay, Aurecon Hatch recently

completed the 7X expansion from 55 to 85Mtpa.

This was a very successful EPCM, said

Ross. It was a very complex brown fields ex-

pansion project and was completed with mini-

mum disruption to operations. It was launched

in a period where construction markets were

overheated, and we were very pleased with the

schedule and cost outcomes achieved. Many

projects built between 2005 and 2009 experi-enced major cost over-runs.

Moving south, the firm is completing de-

tailed engineering design for the proposed Wig-

gins Island coal terminal, which in its f irst stage

will have capacity of more than 25Mtpa. It is

also providing procurement and project man-

agement assistance to the consortium of miners

behind Wiggins Island; as part of this it recently

completed a supplementary technical feasibil-

ity study.

At RG Tanna, which was last expanded two years ago, Aurecon

Hatch did the engineering and management of offshore works.

In NSW, the firm is completing the EPCM delivery of the New-

castle Coal Infrastructure Groups (NCIG) greenfield coal termi-

nal on Kooragang Island, which, in its first stage has a capacity

of 30Mtpa. Again, Ross judged this facility well delivered in an

overheated market, particularly set against the background of a

challenging dredging regime in the Hunter River.

We are very pleased with the commissioning and perform-

ance of the in-loading side and we have already stacked almost

100,000 tonnes of coal and operated at better than name plate

rating. More importantly, we will be ready to load coal onto thefirst ship two months ahead of schedule.

Finally, in the south, the firm has been involved in concept

work for an expansion of the Port Kembla Coal Terminal.

Slide shows the mature basins Bowen, Hunter and Southern as

well as the emerging basins the Galilee, Surat and Gunnedah. With

few options for new deep water ports, and conicting land uses

impacting potential sites like Shoalwater Bay, industry is likely to fall

back upon expansions at Abbot Point, Hay Point, Gladstone and

Newcastle.

Contact: www.aureconhatch.com

Checking clearance between a reclaimer bucket wheel

and new concrete wall panel at Dalrymple Bay.