The Australian Business reported that Queensland Government has called for private sector interests to provide a fourth port to service the coalfields of central Queensland as existing ports struggle with strong demand.

As per report there are three major ports that service the Bowen Basin Gladstone, Dalrymple Bay and Abbot Point and all three have railway links to the coal rich Bowen Basin, which plans to open many more coal mines. Thees three ports ship upwards of 60 million tonnes of coal annually and the proposed Port Alma coal facility would export up to another 30 million tonnes.

Premier Anna Bligh said that a feasibility study undertaken by the government owned Gladstone Ports Corporation had established there would be room for one more coal port, to be situated at Port Alma, south of Rockhampton and just north of Gladstone at the mouth of the Fitzroy River.

Premier Anna Bligh said that Port Alma would require an extensive dredging program and would also suffer through not having a direct rail link to the coalfields. But where it differs from the others is that it would be built by the private sector, and mining giant Xstrata, which has three mines in the Bowen Basin but several more planned with its Wandoan project, has been given first chance to build the terminal.

She added that if the terminal goes ahead, it would involve shipping coal off the main railway line and then transporting it 20 kilometer over salt flats to the Port Alma terminal.