WICET set for Commissioning

 

Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal (WICET) Gladstone, Australia,  is now moving into the commissioning stage. The first shipment of product coal is expected to leave Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal at Golding Point this month.

It has been 11 years since the $2.6 billion project was first mooted and its owners, who visited WICET last month, were excited to see the first piles of coal quickly growing at the stockyard.

All the conveyor belts are working after the first live test, including the 5.6km long overland conveyor from the loading area at the balloon loop that travels under Gladstone–Mt Larcom Rd to the stockyard.

One of the seven owners of the terminal, Caledon Coal, supplied 80,000 tonnes of bedding down coal, which is spread across the stockyard 300mm high as a base layer for the product coal to sit on.

WICET chief executive officer Robert Barnes said it was a great result the first time the belts were run with coal on them. “A lot of people are pretty happy to be here and see it running. Even the owners, they were getting excited,” he said. “A lot of work has gone into making sure it would work correctly. Every train’s been going through better and better, and the belts are running beautifully.”

Mr Barnes said once the bedding coal was down, they would have a ramp-up period. “After that, it’s business as usual.”

The loading chute, which takes the coal from the conveyor and loads it onto the ships, was being replaced last month by Walz Construction.

“If we didn’t take it down, we could have been loading,” he said. “But there was a lot of sensing work to be done.”

There are up to 650 people still on-site, finishing work in various areas. The first trial shipment was set back from November until this month due to issues with contractors John Holland, which is claiming some $58 million in cost blowouts.

Berth and loader details are as per below:

- Accommodate vessels sizes: minimum 40,000–maximum 220,000 dwt

- Maximum LOA: 320m

- Beam: 50.1m

- Berth Pocket Depth: 18.80m

- Shiploader: Longitudinal travel along quay line - 8,250 tph max load rate. Expected load rate range 4000 – 7000 tph.