Beattie said the milestone followed a 20% increase in capacity at Port of Gladstone in the last 12 months.

“In the last year, Port of Gladstone has increased its capacity more than any major coal port in Australia," he said.

“Today marks another important milestone in its $770 million expansion.”

The premier announced that RGCT’s capacity will increase even further when additional infrastructure is completed in the next 12 months, taking its export capacity to more than 65Mt annually.

“This is evidence of Queensland's ongoing efforts to increase coal export capacity to facilitate global demand,” he said.

“The Queensland Government is proud to have invested over $400 million in the Gladstone expansion so far.”

Beattie said in the year to June 30, 2006, Queensland coal production reached almost 172Mt – of which 143Mt was exported.

“By 2009-10, production is forecast to rise to between 215Mt and 235Mt, with export markets continuing to account for more than 80 percent,” he said.

“And Queensland continues to plan for this growth, investing $2.3 billion with the private sector in expanding and upgrading Queensland port coal export capacity to 213 million tonnes per annum by the end of this year – that's a 33 percent increase since 2005.”