Bell Bay, Tasmania

Bell Bay is an industrial centre and port located on the eastern shore of the Tamar River, in northern Tasmania, Australia. It lies just south of George Town. In the year ended June 2021, 3.6 million tonnes of exports and imports passed through Bell Bay.^[3]

Bell Bay
Bell Bay Location in Tasmania
Location
Location	Bell Bay, Tasmania
Coordinates	41.130444°S 146.859199°E / -41.130444; 146.859199
UN/LOCODE	AUBEL[1]
Details
Operated by	TasPorts
Size	2,000 hectares (20 km2)
No. of berths	12[2]
Draft depth	11.2 m.[2]
Rail lines	Bell Bay
Rail gauge	1067mm
Street access	East Tamar Highway
Truck types	B-Double
Statistics
Annual cargo tonnage	3.6 million tonnes (2021)
Annual TEU	20,299 (2021)
Website www.tasports.com.au

History

Bell Bay Post Office opened on 18 September 1951 and closed in 1973.^[4]

Industry

The Bell Bay Power Station was decommissioned in 2009, replaced by the Tamar Valley Power Station built next door.^{[citation needed]}

Bell Bay aluminium smelter started operating in 1955. As of June 2025^[update] it is operated by Rio Tinto^[5] (previously by Comalco).

TEMCO / Liberty manganese smelter

A manganese alloy smelter built by BHP, known as the Tasmanian Electro Metallurgical Company (TEMCO) opened on 11 May 1962^[6] produces ferromanganese and silicomanganese.^[7][8] BHP sold the plant to a Billiton subsidiary, Samancor, in 1998. BHP merged with Billiton in 2001, and so TEMCO came under the company's ownership again.^[6] In 2021 it was bought by Sanjeev Gupta's Liberty Steel Group (parent company GFG Alliance), becoming known as Liberty Bell Bay. It is the only commercial ferroalloy operation in Australia.^[7][8] In May 2025 the smelter began a phased shutdown, due to a shortage of ore, beginning with a period of "limited operations". Tropical Cyclone Megan damaged infrastructure of South32's GEMCO, their main supplier of ore, in March 2024.^[9][10] The Premier of Tasmania, Jeremy Rockliff, requested assistance from the federal government in May 2025.^[11] The smelter was scheduled to cease operating in mid-June for at least four weeks, with employees having to use up their leave.^[12]

Transport

Bell Bay was connected to the Tasmanian Government Railways network in May 1974, when the 35 kilometre Bell Bay railway line opened, branching off the North East line at Nelson Creek to the north of Launceston.^[13][14][15] Primarily built to carry logs for export, today it carries intermodal containers to and from the port.^[16]

Berths

The first Bell Bay wharf was opened in 1927.^[17] As of June 2025^[update] it has seven berths, which cater for cargo from the various industries in Bell Bay, along with others.^[18]