The Hunter Valley Coal Chain Logistics Team is a cooperative organisation responsible for planning all coal exports from the Hunter Valley coal industry. The Logistics Team is the first cooperative model of its kind in Australia implemented to maximise export opportunities through a coordinated approach to planning.
Created in 2003 as a trial between Pacific National and Port Waratah Coal Services, membership of the Logistics Team now includes all organisations responsible for the transport of coal from the Hunter Valley mines to the port and onto ships for export. Membership of the team includes:
Pacific National and QRNational as the train operators, Australian Rail Track Corporation, Rail Infrastructure Corporation and Railcorp as the track owners, Port Waratah Coal Services as the operator of the cargo assembly and ship loading terminal, and Newcastle Port Corporation who manage all vessel movements.
Membership is open to any future operators of transport and port infrastructure in the Hunter Valley coal chain.
Maximising coal exports
The Logistics Team has two broad objectives, being to maximise coal export volumes each and every day, and to coordinate planning for the
provision of future coal chain infrastructure.
With a mix of federal, state and privately owned organisations operating individual components
of the coal chain, the Logistics Team provides
a single point of coordination for all planning decisions. By recognising and operating the coal chain as a single system, rather than a series of individual components, increased throughput
and improved investment-planning result.
Daily Planning:
The Logistics Team operate a 24-hour, 7 day per week planning service to fulfil customers (exporters) orders. A minimum of 14 days notice is received for the arrival of a vessel at the Port of Newcastle. The Logistics Team coordinate vessel berthing, stockpile layouts and train sequencing so as to fulfil customers orders in the shortest possible timeframe.
Long-Term Planning
Over a 10-year horizon the Logistics Team use sophisticated modelling tools to continuously assess the adequacy of the existing coal chain infrastructure to fulfil future export demand. By identifying future coal chain constraints and working to develop an integrated capital investment plan, the Logistics Team is able to assist members optimise their investment decisions and focus capital expenditure on infrastructure required to meet future coal export demand.
The Hunter Valley Coal Chain is the largest coal export operation in the world and consists of:
- 30 coal mines owned by 17 individual coal producers
- 23 points for loading coal onto trains
- Approximately 28 trains making more than two trips per day
- More than 80 different export blends of coal
- Five coal berths and ship loaders and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of useable stockpile space at the port
In 2005 approximately 81 million tonnes of coal was exported, and a target of 86.9Mt has been established for 2006. Annual exports now exceed AU$5 billion with approximately 1000 vessels loaded each year. Approximately 70% of the export coal goes to Japanese power stations, with Taiwan, Korea and Europe also receiving Newcastle coal.
A coordinated investment programme to deliver significant growth in annualised export capacity over the next five to ten years has been developed by the Logistics Team. Over $1 billion in infrastructure investments have been identified that could deliver more than $3 billion in additional annual exports at today’s prices.
