Aurizon will haul up to 65 million tonnes of coal per year in Queensland as part of a new agreement
March 7, 2013
Aurizon will haul up to 65 million tonnes of coal per year in Queensland as part of a new agreement with the BM Alliance Coal Operations (BMA) and BHP Billiton Mitsui Coal (BMC).
Aurizon today announced to the Australian Securities Exchange it had secured a coal haulage contract with BMA and BMC for Queensland mine operations.
The contract will be performance-based and is for 100 percent of the tonnes tendered by BMC and BMA for recontracting in the Blackwater and Goonyella systems to ports in Gladstone and Mackay.
Aurizon Commercial and Marketing Executive Vice President
Paul Scurrah says the agreement includes supply chain performance monitoring and productivity sharing initiatives.
Aurizon CEO Lance Hockridge says the contracts are a renewal of a long partnership with BMA and BMC in Queensland, which started with BHP in Queensland in the 1970s.
“This is the largest contestable haulage contract in the Australian coal market in a decade,” Hockridge says.
“It represents about a quarter of the entire Queensland coal haulage market.”
The contract replaces the existing 2005-2006 contract with a 12-year term, ‘new-form’ contract.
The contract includes the haulage of coal from the Blackwater, Gregory, South Walker Creek, Poitrel, Riverside, Goonyella, Saraji, Peak Downs and Daunia operations.
The contract is effective from July 1, 2015 for the Blackwater system and July ,1 2016 for the Goonyella system.
Aurizon is Australia’s largest rail freight company with services operating across five states.