Up to 700,000 tonnes of coal will be moved out of Abbot Point near Bowen, Macarthur chairman Keith De Lacey told the ABC. Bowen is about 190km northwest of Mackay.
He said Macarthur was determined to take advantage of a global appetite for coal.
"We've been looking at every opportunity over the last six months to maximise our exports," he said. "It's much more expensive, of course, but it's a shame infrastructure limitations are restricting our exports."
Last month, the queue of coal ships waiting to be loaded outside the central-Queensland port grew to 48 vessels.
Prime Infrastructure announced last week it would raise up to $100 million to expand Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal from its current capacity of 54 million tonnes to about 90 million tonnes a year.
