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Speaker 1: Joining us live in the studio for the Darwin Port Report,

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Speaker 1: our last port report for the year. Darwinport Operations General

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Speaker 1: Manager Ian Niblock, How are you.

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Speaker 2: Ian, I'm great, Thank you, Katie's.

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Speaker 1: Been an interesting year, has Nash?

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Speaker 2: Has it ever? I mean, first of all, where did

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Speaker 2: it go? And then it's been so challenging in so

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Speaker 2: many different ways. And I guess from you know, the

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Speaker 2: port's perspective. COVID nineteen really changed our world.

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Speaker 1: It certainly did, and I guess it made things so

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Speaker 1: different for you guys from the cruise liner industry and

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Speaker 1: all types of things changing. Talk us through the year

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Speaker 1: that has been twenty twenty out at the port.

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Speaker 2: Indeed, so we lost our cruise ships completely, you know,

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Speaker 2: and that's sixty eight ships a year. So that and

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Speaker 2: of course you don't have that wonderful spectacle of the

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Speaker 2: big ships, and of course that affects all the local

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Speaker 2: businesses because they don't have the passengers here. We had

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Speaker 2: to do that risk based system for our pilots because

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Speaker 2: the ships arrived within the fourteen day window, so we

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Speaker 2: had to put that in place, and then we've maintained

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Speaker 2: that throughout and updated it as we've got to gather

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Speaker 2: new information. But do you know, I was just looking

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Speaker 2: through the stats and I estimate we'll do one thousand,

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Speaker 2: six hundred and ninety piloted movements by the end of

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Speaker 2: this year.

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Speaker 1: Wow, how does that compare to other years?

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Speaker 2: So it's down a little bit, Yeah, probably because of

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Speaker 2: the cruise ships. But overall that's pretty good given that

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Speaker 2: it's been such a hard year.

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Speaker 1: And have we still had quite good sort of export

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Speaker 1: numbers and things like that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we have. So we've been doing exporting manganese throughout

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Speaker 2: and in fact, this month we're going to export one

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Speaker 2: hundred and thirty thousand tons through the port, so that's

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Speaker 2: really positive. Live exports have been going really well. And

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Speaker 2: then we're also doing things like at the moment we're

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Speaker 2: supporting the development at the Kunawara Naval Base of building

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Speaker 2: a new wharf there. So all of the piles for

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Speaker 2: that wharf will come through the port because they're so

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Speaker 2: big you wouldn't want to try and move them by road,

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Speaker 2: so they come into the port, sit in a laydown

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Speaker 2: area and then go on to a barge over to

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Speaker 2: Kunawara Naval Base. So I was looking at some some

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Speaker 2: of them were forty one meters long.

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Speaker 1: They're just wow, and how long will that take?

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Speaker 2: Well, it's the overall job is about three years, I think,

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Speaker 2: but I'm not sure how long the piling's going to take.

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Speaker 2: Piling can be. It can be challenging at times because

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Speaker 2: sometimes the piles just don't want to go in. So yeah, anyway,

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Speaker 2: we'll see.

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Speaker 1: So we're good, have an interesting It's been a tough year,

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Speaker 1: but it's also I guess it's really shown that territory

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Speaker 1: resilience as well.

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Speaker 2: Has national Oh has it ever? Yeah? Totally and utterly.

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Speaker 2: And you see, you know, you're talking with customers and

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Speaker 2: everyone that everyone's had to get stuck in. Everyone's had

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Speaker 2: to make this work. And we've done really well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we really have. We have.

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Speaker 2: We've been great.

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Speaker 1: What about you know, what does twenty twenty one bring

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Speaker 1: out at the Darwin Port? Do you think? Have we

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Speaker 1: got some exciting times ahead?

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Speaker 2: I think we have. So we're going to resume iron

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Speaker 2: ore bulk exports. I think you know that was announced

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Speaker 2: a wee while back, So we think the first one

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Speaker 2: will be in January, which is great. That's really fantastic.

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Speaker 2: Plus we're working with a number of potential bulk exporters

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Speaker 2: looking at a range of cargoes and we're hoping that

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Speaker 2: we'll be able to move those through Darwin. So we

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Speaker 2: anticipate that a number of those will come to fruition

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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one. So that means obviously more more

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Speaker 2: bulk and more ships, more export. In terms of cruise,

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Speaker 2: the government band has been extended to March. I did

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Speaker 2: hear that, But we know that the cruise industry is

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Speaker 2: working really closely with government to put whatever criteria they

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Speaker 2: need to have in place to resume. So we're really

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Speaker 2: hoping that we'll start to see some of the smaller

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Speaker 2: expedition cruise ships come back, probably in the second quarter, okay,

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Speaker 2: So that's really exciting. And then in terms of the

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Speaker 2: bigger stuff, the bigger ships and larger passenger numbers, we're

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Speaker 2: seeing some really buoyant bookings for twenty twenty two. So

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Speaker 2: it's going to come back.

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Speaker 1: It's going to rebound.

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Speaker 2: It's just going to be a bit slow, you know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess that's the case with every industry, really,

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Speaker 1: isn't it. You know, it's going to be a toughlock.

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Speaker 1: It's been a tough year, but we are going to

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Speaker 1: start to see the rebound hopefully.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we will. And of course the rebound then has

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Speaker 2: impact on you know, fuel stocks and fuel coming in

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Speaker 2: through the port, and yeah, raw materials for building. You know,

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Speaker 2: there's a number of projects being looked at at the moment,

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Speaker 2: the ship lift and the new naval based wharf and stuff,

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Speaker 2: so all of that's going to need raw materials and

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Speaker 2: it all comes through the port. So we're happy.

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Speaker 1: It's a good thing for you guys, no doubt about it.

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Speaker 1: And you know, it's good to be busy. There's no

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Speaker 1: doubt about that. It is. And generally you know if

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Speaker 1: the port is busy, well you would think that that

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Speaker 1: Darwin is hopefully busy because it means that there's plenty happening.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're definitely an early indicator of the economic health

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Speaker 2: and we're seeing it pecking up again. And we've got

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Speaker 2: our way through this year. We've done it really well

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Speaker 2: and we're really looking forward to twenty twenty one and

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Speaker 2: hoping it's not going to be another repeat of this one.

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Speaker 1: Oh absolutely no, well, hopefully not. I think we've done

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Speaker 1: a good job of managing things, no doubt about it.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, well, any block it's always wonderful to have

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Speaker 1: you on the show. We really appreciate the time that

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Speaker 1: you give up, you know, to be on the show

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Speaker 1: and be part of it each and each and every year,

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Speaker 1: but particularly this year and what's been a difficult one.

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Speaker 1: Hope you have a lovely Christmas and we'll see you

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Speaker 1: in the new year.

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Speaker 2: Same to you, Katie. And yeah, it's absolute pleasure to

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Speaker 2: come in and spend a bit of time talking about

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Speaker 2: something that I'm passionate to it about it.

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Speaker 1: I always love it when people come in and they're

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Speaker 1: passionate about what they do, and you clearly are and

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Speaker 1: it's great to hear.

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Speaker 2: For Christmas.

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Speaker 1: Yeah you too, mate, talk to your son. Thank you.

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Speaker 1: So yeah you are listening to Mix one oh four

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Speaker 1: point nine three sixty and that is of course Ian Niblock,

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Speaker 1: who is the Darwin Port Operations General Manager,