China Spurs $115 Billion Australia Port, Rail Boom Ian Waldie/Bloomberg
Coal carriers are loaded at Newcastle Port, in Newcastle, north of Sydney. Australia plans to build port terminals with capacity of almost 1.5 billion metric tons a year by 2022, and lay as much as 3,700 kilometers of rail track.
Coal carriers are loaded at Newcastle Port, in Newcastle, north of Sydney. Australia plans to build port terminals with capacity of almost 1.5 billion metric tons a year by 2022, and lay as much as 3,700 kilometers of rail track. Photographer: Ian Waldie/Bloomberg
.Australia is set for an A$112 billion ($115 billion) infrastructure boom as the nation adds ports and railways to feed China and India’s appetite for coal and iron ore.
The largest exporter of the key steelmaking materials will build enough railroads to stretch from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles over the next decade, as well as a new port on the Great Barrier Reef coast that will dwarf the world’s biggest bulk harbor. The projects will near-double global coal trade and add 57 percent to the market for seaborne iron ore.
“There is so much opportunity here,” said Philippe Bouquet, Australia construction head at French builder Bouygues SA. “People in Paris are very impressed. They say: ‘23 million people? How can they do so much?’”
Leighton Holdings Ltd. (LEI), Australia’s biggest builder, Bechtel Group Inc. and trainmaker General Electric Co. are among companies winning deals as Australia adds transport links to support A$232 billion of mineral and energy projects. The demand, coupled with economic slowdowns in the U.S. and Europe, has helped make Australia the developed world’s fastest-growing construction market.
