Hastings 3915

Many questions about Hastings coal export

There are lots of IFS about a story in The Age on Wednesday morning, October 14, about a possibility of coal export from the Latrobe Valley by pipeline through the Port of Hastings.

The story can be found at http://www.theage.com.au/environment/brumbys-dirty-secret-coal-for-export-20091013-gvnp.html

The major questions are: Will the State government call for competitive tenders to export coal? And, if Exergen is successful and is able to build a demonstration drying plant (processing 50 tonnes an hour) and if that is successful in turning brown coal into a fuel of similar quality to low-grade black coal. will it then be able to transfer the process to a much larger plant that can be developed. If all that is achieved it could be possible that exports could flow in 2014.

The writer of this item has writrten many headline stories on major projects over decades in journalism. Some of them came to fruition, but I can't think of one that happened in line with the initially publicised timetable.

A reminder of industry

There's an occasional reminder that Hastings is an industrial centre, such as this picture of gas flaring from one of the flare stacks taken on August 17, 2009.

The Long Island Point Plant completes the final stage of processing LPG prior to distribution to customers by ship, truck and pipeline. Crude oil is stored and distributed to refineries in Australia and overseas by ship and pipeline.

The company's information sheets states that process gas (primarily methane and ethane) is combusted under controlled conditions in flaresto protect personnel, the environment and plant equipment whenthere is an interruption to normal operations or as a last option for disposal during irregular customer demand. Gas flared off in this way has generally reduced year by year except in December 2008 when an increase followed the rupture of a pipeline in Port Phillip by the anchor of a non-exxon ship.

Based on information from the company website at www.exxonmobil.com

Industry in Hastings

There is a lookout behind the Aquatic Centre, and just north of the Hastings pier, which shows clearly where the main industries of Hastings are and which is which across the Bay.  

Hastings is an industrial town. Certainly it is the eastern gateway to the Mornington Peninsula winery and holiday area but it exists primary for its industries -- petrol, steel and gas. And if you wonder why you don't see more evidence of the products, it's because they go under the ground. For example, unleaded petrol is transported to the United storage and distribution facilities in Hastings from Crib Point jetty along a 78km pipeline connecting Crib Point to Long Island and Melbourne which was established in 1970. A 180km pipeline takes crude oil and gas from Bass Strait at Longford to the Esso installations at Hastings built in 1968. Pipelines also connect to Mobil and Shell refineries in Melbourne and Geelong.
Each year around 4 million tonnes of petroleum product is handled through the State owned jetties at Crib Point and Long Island Point with a further 1.2 million tonnes of steel product through the BlueScope Steel wharves. The port handles an average of three crude oil carriers, six LPG vessels and eight vessels with steel cargoes each month.

Western Port was first used as an industrial port In 1931 when the oil tanker Vincas anchored off Stony Point.

At the BlueScope hot strip coating mill at Hastings, steel slabs from Port Kembla in NSW are rolled and coated primarily for domestic market, with some going to overseas markets. It's the home of Colorbond. Info on BlueScope Steel is at http://www.bluescopesteel.com/go/about-bluescope-steel
Enter Hastings in the search box (top right) on that site for links to interesting info on how they interact with the Hastings community.

Any figures above come from the Port of Hastings website at http://www.portofhastings.vic.gov.au