Australia's flood-stricken coal industry may be disrupted for months as reports emerge of key rail and road links being washed away, while some infrastructure may take years to repair, authorities said today.
The floods have swamped mines in Queensland state, paralyzing operations that produce 35 per cent of Australia's estimated 259 million tonnes of exportable coal. Australia contributes two-thirds of global coking-coal exports, needed to make steel.
"There are some aspects of the rebuilding of infrastructure that will take, potentially, years," Maj-Gen Mick Slater, chief of the flood recovery operation in Queensland, told a news conference in flood-hit Rockhampton town.
"We still don't know what it looks like underwater. I know that major roads, rail lines and bridges are all damaged."
About 200,000 people scattered across an area the size of France and Germany combined have been affected by the flooding and three people have been killed. Damage from the floods, the worst in the state in 50 years, is estimated at $5 billion (€3.7 billion).
Floodwaters were receding on Friday in some areas but fresh flooding was forecast downstream. Authorities said even once floods reached a peak, water would not significantly recede for almost a week, leaving the Capricorn highway, which runs through the main coal region, cut.
Australia's $50 billion (€37 billion) coal export industry has been brought to a virtual standstill. The biggest coal port, Dalrymple, is running at near-normal export levels despite the floods, but authorities are concerned they are being supplied by stockpiles from mines which may soon run out. Exports could slump if mines do not resume production.
"We really have no idea at the moment what's happening with mine production. If we can't get it in, we can't ship it out," said Dalyrmple spokesman Greg Smith.
Gladstone port is closed, and more wet weather is forecast as the wet season has only just started.
Queensland's mines minister and analysts say it will be months until mines in Australia's biggest coking coal area, the Bowen Basin, are fully operational.
Asian steel-makers who buy the bulk of Australia's coal have been forced to look elsewhere to keep their plants running.
Park Cheon-tark of Hyundai Steel said the company had bought coal from Russia, Canada, the United States and China, while asking long-term contract sellers to ship earlier than previously agreed.
The muddy inland sea has stranded some of Australia's best beef cattle on tiny islands of high ground, destroyed wheat and sugar crops, and swept deadly snakes into homes.
QR National, the main coal carrier in the Bowen Basin, said today that a major rail link would be under water "well into next week" and assessment of rail damage was being hindered by floodwaters.
"The ballasts have just washed away and the sleepers are hanging in the air," Ross Keely, a farm manager who flew over the flooded area, told the Australian Financial Review.
Reuters