SHIPPING Australia’s NSW State Committee Newcastle Luncheon on 17 October was a timely one, following a milestone for Port of Newcastle’s Clean Energy Precinct and ongoing efforts to diversify the region’s trade.

Today’s event, held at Customs House, featured an address from federal member for Newcastle Sharon Claydon.

Ms Claydon took guests on a journey through the port city’s history, from the birth of the coal industry to the closure of BHP’s Newcastle Steelworks in 1999, as historical context for the task of diversifying the region’s economic base.

Shedistilled current into three projects underpinning Port of Newcastle’s direction in the coming decade: development of a deepwater container terminal, the Clean Energy Precinct, and passenger vehicle imports.

“The vision to construct and operate a world-class container terminal on the site of the old, former BHP steelworks dates back about 30 years,” Ms Claydon said.

“That conversation was inhibited totally by a very controversial deed that was signed by a former state government, which really forbid Newcastle; it really priced us out of any opportunity to have a container terminal.

“But thankfully, after a very long battle, the port was able to free Newcastle from the shackles that that contract put us in and made possible the implementation of a long-term strategic vision for the port.”

The second vision – an expansion into passenger vehicle imports – is supported by approval from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Ms Claydon said.

“The port is a really ideal place for a car import terminal, with direct access to the national road and rail networks,” she said.

“The new passenger vehicle imports venture presents an ideal trade opportunity with the growth of the container terminal.”

And the third project, the Clean Energy Precinct, advanced on Monday (14 October) with agreements signed for work on Front End Engineering Designs and Environmental Impact Statements.

“It’s a part of a delicious story that the site that was once going to house the expansion of Port Waratah Coal services … is now the site of the clean energy precinct,” Ms Claydon said.

“It’s a huge 220-hectare site, once destined for coal, that will now house the clean energy sector. And it sends a very clear demonstration about the future development of the Port of Newcastle Clean Energy Precinct, in partnership with the federal government and private investors will deliver one of Australia’s largest energy hubs to scale.

“There’s infrastructure certainty there, allowing the private sector to take advantage of the government’s hydrogen tax incentives, the various funding pools that are now available, and it’ll attract about $3 billion in private investment.”

Ms Claydon said Monday’s milestone positioned Newcastle and the Hunter region as a leader in the production, storage and export of green energy products and technologies including hydrogen and green ammonia.

“Green ammonia, of course, might, in fact, be the first of our clean energy exports helping play no small role in helping to decarbonise the shipping industry,” she said.

Ms Claydon also touched on Newcastle’s role in the offshore wind industry – a role she said the port has the capacity to play. The federal government declared an offshore wind zone off the Hunter coast in July last year.

“The port is the largest exporter of coal in the world, but we do not have the luxury of waiting for the transition to take place around us, and which is why these three massive projects and a number of others in the pipeline are there to respond to changing markets and global needs and the diversification of our economy here,” she said.

“It’s not to underestimate the challenges ahead … This is my generation’s Industrial Revolution. It’s hard work, but Newcastle’s done it before, and I have very optimistic that we’re going to be doing this again.”

Drinks, conversations and a three-course meal continued throughout the afternoon, to the sound of horn blasts from ships in the channel.