Very big ships

The Ports of Australia and in particular those of NSW are amongst the busiest in the world Approximately 99 per cent of Australia’s exports by weight and 79 per cent by value leave Australia by sea. Average annual growth between 1999 and 2004 for coal was 5.6 per cent and 6.8 per cent for steel.

Minerals, metals and other commodities are carried by three principal ‘sizes’ of ship or dry bulk carrier: Handies, the most common, weigh almost 50 000 dead weight tonnes (DWT); Panamax’s weigh almost 80 000 DWT; and Capesize vessels weigh over 80 000 DWT. Handling the biggest vessels is restricted to certain ports with sufficiently deep harbours such as Newcastle, although even Newcastle relies on high tides. 

In addition to Newcastle there are three other principal port facilities in NSW: Port Kembla, Sydney Harbour and Botany.

• The Port of Newcastle is the largest coal export port in the world. Coal consistently represents over 95% by weight of the export commodities handled by the port. Other commodities such as grain, steel and minerals are also handled. There are two coal terminals at the port, both managed by Port Waratah Coal Services (PWCS), which receive, store and move the coal. In the 2003-04, PWCS shipped nearly 78 million tonnes of coal. This represents growth of nearly 80% in the 10 years to June 2004. Investment will secure further growth.
• Port Kembla was voted by the insurance company Lloyds as the Australian Port of the year in 2000 and is located near Wollongong. It is also considered to be Australia’s leading port for the export of steel, and second largest for grain. In 2003-04 Port Kembla handled more than 22 million tonnes of material of which steel and coal represented the majority by weight.
• Sydney Harbour and Port Botany are container ports that mainly handle imports of goods for transport around NSW and the country.