Tide is turning on Mackay’s untapped export potential

Calls for greater industry diversity to boost export potential through Port of Mackay

A DIVERSIFIED export base through the Port of Mackay would bring more trades to the region and further cement its position as an economic driver to the state.

North Queensland Bulk Ports CEO Nicolas Fertin said its Port of Mackay operations remained open during COVID-19 shutdowns, demonstrating “how fundamental the mining and resources sectors are to the Queensland economy”.

Mr Fertin, speaking at a Resource Industry Network breakfast in Mackay, said the port operations were world-class but had the scope to export more goods to more countries.

“We are definitely the world leader in exports of our resource sectors and the metallurgical coal is fundamental to a lot of the steel industry overseas,” he said.

“They rely on us and we rely on them; it’s a very strong relationship.

“We need to capitalise on this. We need to appreciate that 28,000 people depend on the port being open and the resources going through these ports.”

But the challenge now was to diversify what was being exported, particularly amid increasingly tense China-Australia trade relations.

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The Port of Mackay has the capacity to accommodate up to 600 ships per year but currently handled about 160.

Its combined import and export cargo capacity was more than six million tonnes per year but current trade is about three million tonnes annually.

That untapped capacity was further widened when 250 hectares of undeveloped land was factored in, all of which suggested the operations had a strong future should our industries diversify.

“The future looks bright because we have very skilled employees at the port, we have a very skilled industry as well in the mining sector,” Mr Fertin said.

“We are world leaders in many areas of the mines and we need to continue to expand on the mining industry, as well as actually look to adapt ourselves.

“A lot of industries are in transition, a lot of overseas companies are importing a lot of the resources that we export (thermal coal and metallurgical coal).

“But they are looking also for the imports of other resources from any country and Australia is best placed, with Queensland, to develop those industries and actually use the port to export whatever they need.”

Mr Fertin said NQBP needed to work with the industries – both existing and emerging – to bring more trades to the region.

“We have, in the Paget industry centre, a lot of boilermakers and electricians and fitters and engineers – they know how to build equipment for the mines,” he said.

“We know how to move ships.

North Queensland Bulk Ports CEO Nicolas Fertin. Picture: Tara Miko

“We need to actually develop with the government of Queensland, the Commonwealth Government and overseas countries, we need to develop the industries of the future.

“If they are bio-futures, if they are actually the new energy like hydrogens, we need to work together to make that happen.

“We know how to do the export of met coal and thermal coal; we have known that for many decades and we are very successful.

“Let’s get ready to bring other trades to this region.”

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