Glencore Calls for Price Regulation in Newcastle Port
Coal mining giant Glencore has now applied to have the competition watchdog oversee pricing in the newly privatised Port of Newcastle, reports The Sydney Morning Herald. The NSW port is hiking some shipping charges up to 60 percent after its $1.75 billion privatisation last year. Glencore has made the application to the National Competition Council, describing the shipping channels in the Port of Newcastle as a natural 'bottleneck' monopoly. This pitch for Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) protection comes as management of Victoria's Port of Melbourne stares down a similar threat of declaration under national competition law…
World's Biggest Coal Port Lease for Sale
Australia's NSW government will go ahead with the long-term lease of the Port of Newcastle, the world’s biggest coal export location by annual capacity for a reported figure of around $700m, reports the Australian Journal of Mining. A long-term lease of the port would include over 700 hectares of land owned by the Newcastle Port Corporation, as well as all road and rail infrastructure wharves owned by NPC within the port boundary. Newcastle will be the third major NSW port privatised in recent times; Port Botany and Port Kembla were both privatised at the beginning of 2013.