Coal war: Billionaire Chris Wallin brawls with Adani’s Bravus over Abbot Point terminal fees

A brawl is looming with a coal billionaire going to the Queensland Competition Authority over pricing and access at the Abbot Point Coal Terminal, owned by an offshoot of Adani.

Looks like there’s a brawl brewing in North Queensland with feisty billionaire Chris Wallin’s QCoal lodging a claim with the Queensland Competition Authority (QCA) against Indian multinational miner Bravus over access and pricing at the Abbot Point Coal Terminal.

The Queensland Labor government, through a 99-year lease agreement, had granted Bravus Mining & Resources – an Australian subsidiary of the Adani Group – control of the Abbot Point terminal and its infrastructure for $1.8bn in 2011.

Its been a long time coming but QCoal is the first of the users of the terminal to have their previous state government contract come up for renewal – and they’re not happy!

We hear, Bravus wants them to pay a lot more to use the terminal – now known as North Queensland Export Terminal (NXQT) – and QCoal reckons it’s unfair.

Chris Wallin is taking on Adani’s Bravus.

To ensure all is fair, Wallin’s QCoal is calling on the QCA to make the port a declared service so that it can rule on pricing and access for all users.

Citybeat can’t give you the details of the latest stoush because the QCA submission was heavily redacted but more broadly in its submission QCoal said a declaration would provide coal miners with “certainty of access on reasonable terms” with arbitration and mediation available in the event of a dispute.

The submission also said it would give “protection from risks created by the Adani Group’s vertical integration”.

We understand that QCoal’s Byerwen Coal Mine can only freight its steel making metallurgical coal out of Abbot Point meaning there’s little genuine competition on port access in that part of the world.

A stacker/reclaimer at Abbot Point Coal Terminal.

Operational since 2017, Byerwen is one of Australia’s largest coking coal mines, with reserves exceeding 1 billion tonnes.

When approached by Citybeat, QCoal said: “We have no comment at this stage and let the submission speak for itself.”

However, QCoal has a bit of a history with Adani/Bravus over the calculation of the terminal infrastructure charges (TIC) which are set every five years.

In 2020 the Queensland Supreme Court said that NQXT had engaged in “unconscionable’ dealings and failed to demonstrate that the handling charges were “reasonable”. However, that decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal a year later.

There are a lot of big miners shipping coal through Abbot Point, including Stanmore, Yancoal and Lake Vermont Resources, and they will be looking at QCoal’s claim to the QCA with interest.

Expansion

National, all services law firm, Attwood Marshall Lawyers has expanded its Brisbane operations recruiting two senior lawyers.

Melany Dowse joins the firm as Special Counsel in Commercial Litigation and Duncan MacDougall joins the firm as a Senior Associate in Estate Litigation. .

Dowse was previously with Gibbs Wright Litigation Lawyers and before that, McInnes Wilson Lawyers and MacDougall was with FC Lawyers and is the immediate past president of the Queensland chapter of Pride in Law.

Safe haven

In a troubled world, car parks are increasingly seen as a safe haven for investors and their popularity is seen in the huge response for an offer from a Sunshine Coast fund manager.

RM Capital, the investment management arm of RM Developments had invited investors

to become part-owners of Oceanside Car Park, an eight-level car park and retail asset

opposite the Sunshine Coast University Hospital in Birtinya.

RM Capital sought to raise $11.2m and 21 investors pledged the amount faster than anticipated.

Remi Rafter and Josh Myers, directors of RM Developments, pictured outside the Oceanside Car Park in Birtinya.

The asset, which comprises 581 parking spaces and five ground floor retail tenancies,

had been purchased for $20.96m over an 189-year lease, a sum which is only 31 per cent of its estimated replacement value.

It was previously owned by the Sunshine Coast Regional Council and managed by Secure Parking.

RM Developments director Remi Rafter says there was so much enthusiasm for the offer that they had to scale it back.

Rafter, who operates RM Developments in partnership with his one-time Australian Army colleague Josh Myers, says he’s confident that all 21 investors would be “well rewarded.”