INTRODUCTION For 200 years the Port of Newcastle has been Australia’s premier coal export harbour. Of the 95 Mtpa of various commodities such as steel, aluminum, minerals and so forth exported from Newcastle in 2008-2009, 90.5 Mtpa were attributable to coal. Average annual growth rate of coal exports from 1990 to 2006 was 6.1%. This constant increase has caused a spike in ships queuing to enter the harbour to be loaded. To increase capacity and avoid these traffic jams, a decision was made to develop a new coal stockpile area and construct a third coal terminal. In April 2007 the Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group (NCIG) received approval from the New South Wales Government to proceed. NCIG has a 35-year lease on the 136-hectare site on Kooragang Island and construction o

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