Government figures released showed that there has been a massive increase in the amount of coal passing through the Abbot Point terminal near Bowen in north Queensland in the last year. The data compares output in July this year with July last year, revealing there has been an 80% increase, according to Australia’s ABC News. The government said that 1.92 million metric tons (mt) of coal passed through Abbot Point during July. Queensland Treasurer Tim Nicholls said that the state’s coal industry has made a record recovery from this year’s floods. The torrential rain from tropical cyclone Oswald in January caused widespread damage to coal haulage rail lines in central Queensland, including the Moura to Gladstone line, which was closed for more than a month. “We improved accessibility and we moved very quickly after the 2013 floods to make sure that the railways were operating again and the ports were operating again,” Nicholls said. He said that the coal export volumes over the FY 2012 were at their highest level in three years.

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