Aurizon Secures Coal Contract with Wollongong Coal

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15 Aug 2016

Aurizon has secured its first coal haulage contract in the Southern Coalfields of NSW for the railing of 800,000 tonnes per annum for Wollongong Coal’s Wongawilli Colliery to Port Kembla Coal Terminal.

The contract provides haulage services for the period August 2016 to August 2018. Aurizon is utilising existing locomotives and wagons to service the contract.

Indian conglomerate, Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), is the majority shareholder of Wollongong Coal, which also owns the Russell Vale Colliery.

Aurizon EVP Customer & Strategy Mauro Neves said, “Aurizon is delighted to start operations for Wollongong Coal in the Southern Coalfields and to extend our footprint for coal haulage in NSW beyond the Hunter Valley and the Gunnedah Basin.

“We’ve worked closely with Wollongong Coal to provide a flexible and innovative service offering, and in leveraging our capability as Australia’s largest coal haulage provider.”

Wollongong Coal CEO, Mr Milind K Oza said, “Company is delighted to engage Aurizon for hauling coal from its Wongawilli Colliery. It is another mile stone achieved following engagement of Delta SBD (ASX Code: DBS) to mine and operate Wongawilli Colliery for an initial period of 2 year to extract around 1.45 million tonnes of ROM coal.”

Aurizon coal in NSW

Aurizon has invested more than $500 million in trains and facilities since 2005, when it started coal haulage services operations in the Hunter Valley.
Since that time, it has grown market share to approximately 25%.
In 2014, Aurizon expanded its operations into the Gunnedah Basin with a 12-year contract with Whitehaven Coal to service four load sites, including the new Maules Creek project.
In March 2016, Aurizon secured a long-term contract extension with BHP Billiton for its Mt Arthur Coal mine in the Hunter Valley to June 2028 with potential for increased haulage volumes from 18mtpa up to a maximum of 26mtpa.