Gladstone Ports Corporation (GPC) is celebrating a milestone this week – its 110th anniversary, confirming its legacy as one of Australia’s most significant Ports and highlighting the critical role it is playing in both the state and national economies.
GPC is Queensland’s largest multi-commodity port and the fifth largest multi-commodity port in Australia. It is the world’s fourth largest coal exporting terminal.
The supercentenarian birthday is officially marked on 06 March – 110 years since the Gladstone Harbour Board first met in 1914 at the Gladstone Town Hall. Owned and managed by GPC (a statutory corporate body of the Queensland Government), the Port is home to a naturally deep-water and world-class harbour.
GPC’s actual history stretches 20 years prior to that official establishment, having been used to ship horses to India in 1894. It has progressed from its industrious past to handling over 120 million tonnes of multi-commodity products today.
Now in 2024, GPC is now the world’s fourth largest coal exporting terminal and handles more than 34 products including LNG, aluminium, petroleum, timber and cement products. Major imports include bauxite and petroleum products as well as general cargo in containers.
ANL operates regular containership services to the Port. In a report carried by the DCN in May last year, GPC’s CEO Craig Haymes said, “Growth in containerised cargo has enormous potential for job growth and flow-on economic advantages to the Gladstone community and wider CQ regions. We are fully committed to developing and improving the container trade.”
Coal makes up 70% of the total exports from the Port. Each year 50 million tonnes of coal passes through it and, since the establishment of Reg Tanna Coal Terminal in May 1980, it has totalled 1.5 billion tonnes of coal exports.
“To our teams, our customers and the communities in which we operate, thank you for your continued and valued support as we facilitate sustainable trade and development and provide prosperity to the region for another 100 plus years,” says Mr Haymes in the Port’s website announcement of the anniversary.
As an employer of more than 750 staff, GPC contributes to economic activity that supports thousands of additional jobs and generates billions of dollars in gross value add for the broader Central Queensland economy.
“Today, GPC facilitates more than 120 million tonnes of throughput a year, with a record dividend of $117 million delivered to the State’s economy last year for the benefit of all Queenslanders,” Mr Haymes said.
See our article from last year about Central Qld: Multimodal Terminal Services.
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