darwin: australia's cargo gateway to asia

7/29/2019 Darwin: Australia's Cargo Gateway to Asia

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MARCH-APRIL 2013

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CONTENTS

4 BREAKBULK MAGAZINE www.breakbulk.com

6 Editorial 34 Shipping Trends 46 Security 56 Best Practices: Ship Agency

58 Commodities 61 Breakbulk Index

8 MONGOLIA

MELTDOWN?New laws threatenmining boom.

14 ENVIRONMENT

KID GLOVE TRANSPORTWorking with ruralcommunities in Peru, Brazil.

22 SHIPPING TRENDS

SOUTH AFRICAPUSHES CABOTAGESAMSA wants all-African flags.

28 PORT FOCUS

FORECAST CLOUDY,BUT CLEARING

Uncertain times for Tianjin Port.

37 EXECUTIVE PROFILE

INDEPENDENT MPVKnuttel leads new Safmarine unit.

42 CARRIER PROFILE

CAR CARRIERGOES HYBRIDHegh Autoliners diversifies.

72 CARGO LENS

THYSSENKRUPP MIREDIN THE AMERICASAlabama, Brazil plants closer to sale.

76 MARKET SPOTLIGHT

AUSTRALIAN GATEWAYDarwin Port swells with breakbulk cargo.

MARCH-APRIL 2013

COVERSTORY


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MARCH-APRIL 201376 BreakBulk Magazine www.bb.com

marketspotlight

The Port of Darwin has grown inrecent years from a pioneer out-post into an important gatewayto Southeast Asia. It is also a

strategic defense port.Closer to Dili in Timor-Leste, East

Java in Indonesia and Port Moresby inPapua New Guinea than it is to Sydney,the port has undergone major changes inthe last decade.

The change in this port in the lastve years has been dramatic, saidMelissa Reiter, general manager forcorporate services at Darwin Port Corp.Over 90 percent of our trade is for theAsian market. Weve denitely becomeAustralias gateway to Asia.

Ichthys LNG PlantThe most signicant project to

impact Darwin in recent years is theIchthys liqueed natural gas process-ing plant. The joint venture betweenJapanese-owned Inpex and French-owned Total is estimated to cost aboutAUD$34.3 billion (US$35 billion) duringits 40-year life.

The plant will pipe gas and conden-sate from the Browse Basin offshore fromWestern Australias Kimberley region.Some of the gas will be processed off-shore and exported, while the remainderwill be piped to the onshore processingfacility under construction in Darwin.

The project is causing a substantial

increase in cargo volumes across EastArm Wharf, including shipments ofprefabricated units for worker accom-modations. Port ofcials are expectingshipments all year of building materialsfor the construction of the LNG plant,along with large pipes for laying theunderwater pipeline.

Darwin Port is strategically posi-tioned to service northern Australiasincreasing trade with Southeast Asia,said Adam Giles, transport and infra-structure minister for the NorthernTerritory government in Australia.

The Darwin area also includes theports of Gove and Alyangula, which bothhandle commodities exports.

Darwin swells withSoutheast Asia cargo

By Fran Molloy

A power stationcomponent moves outof the Port of Darwinbound for Alice Springs,a 1,500-kilometer trip.

Darwin Port Corp.

AUSTRALIAN GATEWAY

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march-april 201378 BreakBulk Magazine www.bb.com

marketspotlight

Darwins strategic location has alsoattracted a military presence. Australiasdefense forces regularly hold military

exercises in theregion.

Since 2007,the Northern Ter-ritory governmenthas spent approxi-mately AUD$195.7million (US$200million) expand-ing Darwin Port.With importsexpected to rise 7

percent this year,further expansion

is planned on vacant land bordering theport.

Of the 3.5 million cargo tonnes thatmoved through Darwin Port duringscal year 2011-2012, approximately 15percent was breakbulk cargo.

The ports big expansion followedthe 2004 opening of the AUD$1.9 bil-lion (US$2 billion) Adelaide-Darwin raillink. The 3,000-kilometer railway haschanged how project cargo moves acrossAustralias vast dry interior, offeringcheaper freight rates and reducing most

truck moves to short hauls.Darwin Port is unrecognizable from

the old days, said Cornelis Van Engelen,owner of Casey Haulage, a heavy-lifttransportation provider for nearly 30years. The safety measures built into thenew wharf facilities are signicant andmake a difference to the cargo handling.

Van Engelen said he recently pickedup several alloy silos shipped from NewZealand and headed for a farm in farnorthern Australia.

The cranes are all automated andprecise; the whole operation was prettysmooth and fast, he said. I cant even

tell you how we did that sort of thing20 years ago; your hair would stand onend.

Cattle Controversies

Darwin is also the countrys larg-est live cattle export port, with about270,000 head of cattle shipped outlast year.

Rapidly growing trafc at the porthas meant competition for berthingspots, which has resulted in inter-mittent delays for cattle exports andhigh demurrage costs. The port hasresponded by building a new marine

supply base to serve offshore oil and gasprojects. Scheduled for completion inOctober, the base will free up more spacefor cattle operations.

Live animals exports attracted con-troversy in 2011 with the airing of videofootage of cattle abused at an Indonesianabattoir. A month-long ban was imposedon live exports to Indonesia, but otherscandals have since emerged involvinglivestock exports to Pakistan and Israel.

Australias mining slowdown hurtDarwins bulk volumes last year, as didoods during the wet season (typicallyDecember to March), which disrupted

manganese exports.Part of the rail line between Adelaide

and Darwin washed away near the out-back town of Katherine, and ore wagonsderailed. The manganese was eventuallydiverted to South Australia for export,affecting cargo volumes for Darwin.

Port ofcials are not deterred bythe bulk downturns. With its naturaldeepwater harbour, new modern cargo-handling facilities, and proximity toSoutheast Asia and Australias mineral-rich interior, they expect Darwin tocontinue to play a signicant role on theglobal cargo stage. BB

A biodiesel plant module weighingabout 600 tonnes moves fromDarwin Port to the Natural Fuel Darwinplant site near the wharf.

DarwinPortCorp.

Adam Giles

darwin: australia's cargo gateway to asia

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