/Reuters Agency
One of Australia’s largest coal export ports will resume operations, according to the port operator, after climate change protesters disrupted shipping traffic at the Newcastle port facility for a second consecutive day on Sunday, November 30.
The climate activist group Rising Tide, which claimed responsibility for the latest protest, stated that hundreds of protesters entered the shipping channel of the Port of Newcastle in kayaks on Sunday morning, violating an exclusion zone.
The port facility, located 170 kilometers north of Sydney, the capital of the state of New South Wales, is the largest bulk cargo port on Australia’s east coast, a country where climate change is a divisive issue.
“Vessel operations will resume tomorrow as scheduled,” a Port of Newcastle spokesperson said on Sunday night, after general cargo movements, including alumina destined for Australia’s largest aluminum smelter, Tomago, were aborted due to the protest.
Rising Tide claimed that more than 100 protesters were arrested on Sunday. Police did not immediately respond to a request to confirm the figure, but stated in an earlier release that 21 people were arrested and charged with “alleged maritime offenses” during the protest.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific reported that three of its activists boarded a coal ship near the port, preventing its operation, as part of what it called a peaceful protest.
“Greenpeace, alongside Rising Tide and thousands of ordinary people, are taking big and small actions this weekend,” said Joe Rafalowicz, climate and energy lead at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, in a statement.
On Saturday the 29th, a protest in Newcastle forced an incoming vessel to turn around and police made 11 arrests. A similar multi-day climate action occurred last year, when 170 protesters were detained.
Coal is one of Australia’s main commodity exports, along with iron ore. The Australian government has committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
