port delay

Utah berth not ready until October: Port Authority
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Thursday, 25 February 2010
Nick Evans

WORK on the $A225 million common user berth at Utah Point wont be finished by mid-year, as originally promised, with the Port Hedland Port Authority now saying the project will likely be finished by October 31.

PHPA chief executive Andre Bush told MiningNews.net the project completion date was pushed back in November last year, and that stakeholders had been kept fully informed on progress of the berth works despite no public announcement of the delays.

When soil was initially broken on the project in March last year, the common-user berth was described as essential to meet the future demands of emerging junior iron ore and other mineral producers.

The berth will have a capacity of about 18 million tonnes per annum and be able to accommodate Panamax and small cape size vessels of up to 120,000 dead weight tonnes.

The $225 million wharf was designed to help alleviate congestion at the three existing common-user berths, and make space available for extra trade, according to the state government.

BHP Billiton, Atlas Iron, Aurox, Consolidated Minerals, HiTec Energy and Process Minerals International are paying for around half of the projects total cost, committing $105 million to the project early on.

The most affected smaller producer is likely to be Atlas, which expected to begin shipping iron ore from the new berth July.

Atlas said in January, when it inked two new direct shipping ore contracts with medium-sized Chinese steel mills, it expected to begin shipping ore under those contracts by July subject to the commissioning of the Utah Point Port berth.

In a report to stakeholders obtained by MNN, the PHPA said there were still areas of concern with the progress of the project, including some now-resolved engineering delays and schedule slippage due to delays and inefficiency associated with BHP Billiton dredging activities that had impacted on civil construction contractor Ertech.

The report said BHPs dredging activities managed only five days of activity from December 1-19 last year, which slowed Ertechs ability to extract fill for construction works at the stockyard earthworks.

Bush told MNN that access to fill for the earthworks was a major reason for the delays in the project, but said BHP was not solely to blame.

He said BHP completed the Harriet Point dredging by early January, and difficulties accessing fill earlier in the project were to blame for delays in construction.

I wouldnt want it to be perceived that weve been delayed by BHP, he said.


get ready for some more acrimonious negotiations with FMG...