SYDNEY (Reuters) – A climate change protest off the coast of Australia’s New South Wales State forced an inbound ship to turn back from the country’s largest terminal for coal exports on Sunday, the port operator said.
According to climate activist group Rising Tide, which has organised the protest, more than 100 protesters were in the shipping channel near the Port of Newcastle, as part of a 50-hour blockade that started on Friday.
The Port of Newcastle, some 170 km (105 miles) from the state capital Sydney, is the largest bulk shipping port on Australia’s east coast.
A Port of Newcastle spokesperson said disruption due to the protest was “minimal” but that an inbound vessel “aborted due to people in the channel and has been rescheduled to come in”.
Port operations would continue as normal on Sunday if police were able to keep the shipping channel clear, he said.
Rising Tide said the vessel forced to turn around was a coal ship.
New South Police said some arrests were made at the protest on Sunday but did not provide a number. Three people were arrested on Saturday after being removed from the water.
Climate change is a divisive issue in Australia, the world’s second-biggest exporter of thermal coal and the largest exporter of coking coal.
A similar protest in November last year disrupted operations at the Port of Newcastle, forcing all shipping movements to cease temporarily.
(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
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