SA port operator T-Ports released a statement on Tuesday, March 16 stating it had reached an agreement with Mitsui Bussan Woodchip Oceania, Kangaroo Island Plantation Timbers and HarvestCo. to ship fire-affected timber through Kingscote.
The agreement would see the timber transhipped from a temporary facility at Kingscote using T-Ports' vessel MV Lucky Eyre.
T-Ports CEO Kieran Carvill said the company welcomed the recent public statement by KIPT in support of its proposal to commence transhipping off Kangaroo Island.
The company also anticipates it could export of grains and pulses using the Lucky Eyre from the Island.
"Initial work with local council has been positive as the group look to develop this pathway to market in unison with local stakeholders," he said.
Any shipping was contingent on the approval of the application for the extension of the Kingscote wharf, lodged by Maritime Construction, and the separate approval of the T-Ports transhipment deep water bulk vessel GPS anchor points, storage site and haulage activities, he said.
The project involved a staging facility west of the Kingscote township planned to be set up at a pre-existing grains bunker site, where there was storage for about 25,000 tonnes of logs at this site, he said.
Upgrades to existing ramp and piles at the Kingscote wharf would include a 3 to 5 metre extension to enable MV Lucky Eyre to dock. It would not affect public access to the jetty and foreshore area, he said.
"This transhipping operation will also deliver certainty for potential investors to progress their business proposal, backed by federal government grant, to develop a KI biomass wood pellet and biofuel power plant without further delay," T-Ports says.
"In due course T-Ports transhipping operations could be moved to Smith Bay, subject to government approvals, however if the relevant approvals are not granted then all parties would work to extend the present four-year lease on the Kingscote Wharf."
KIPT in a recent statement to the Australian Stock Exchange stated it was also trialing putting timber on SeaLink ferries, but that it still wanted to develop Smith Bay.
KI mayor Michael Pengilly said the roads and jetty area involved in the Kingscote export plan were not under the council's control and were state assets.
Regarding Smith Bay, Mr Pengilly said KIPT's preferred route was Ten Trees Road but the council would want that road to be paved in order for trucking to commence.
