On December 9, 2014, coal was loaded out through the new 1.9km long trestle to the existing Berth 1, which was followed closely on January 12 by the first cargo from the new berth.

Apart from the new jetty and berth, Bechtel’s work for the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA), now in the final stages, includes on-shore coal materials handling facilities.

Shaun Kenny, president of mining & metals at Bechtel and managing director of Bechtel Australia, said: “These recent milestones are the result of a great deal of hard work from our local team and a high level of coordination with our customer, BMA.”

He added: “Coal terminal expansions have been key projects for us in the last few years. For example, we successfully completed three expansions of the Koorangang terminal at Port Waratah in Newcastle, New South Wales.

“One of the innovative approaches we have been able to use on this Hay Point project is modularisation, similar to that on our four Australian LNG construction projects. The coal transfer towers, surge bins, conveyer galleries, and ship loader were fabricated and fitted out in fabrication yards off-shore prior to shipment to Australia.”