The new coal berth, owned by Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group, a conglomerate of six mining companies that includes BHP Billiton, is expected to boost Newcastle coal exports by approximately 30 million tons per year and is the latest peg in Newcastle's massive expansion.

The two existing terminals owned by Port Waratah Coal Services -- majority-owned by Rio Tinto and Xstrata -- recently increased export capacity from 113 million to 133 million tons a year. Port Waratah Coal Services has begun exploratory work on a fourth terminal.

Coal analyst at energy research group Wood Mackenzie, Steve Hutton, predicted in March that coal exports from Newcastle would nearly double from 93 million tons last year to 174 million tons in 2020.

"It's this year that you're going to start seeing this extra capacity coming online," he told The Sydney Morning Herald.

Newcastle's new coal berth is also expected to make a dent in the ever-present queue of ships at Newcastle that reflects the booming demand for coal.

Figures published this week by the Newcastle Port Corporation show 29 ships were waiting outside Newcastle Harbor Monday to load 3.37 million tons of coal. While that's a decrease from last week's queue of 44 vessels and last December's high of 60 vessels, general-cargo vessels average less than half a day wait to load.

Australia, the world's biggest exporter of coal, mines 318 million tons of black coal annually. Just one-fifth of that amount is used domestically, with the remainder exported.

Environment group Rising Tide Newcastle has opposed the new terminal since it was granted approval by the New South Wales government in 2006.

"This is a day of protest, not celebration," said the organization's spokesman Steve Phillips of its opening. "We are witnessing the expansion of Australia's No. 1 cause of climate change."

Phillips said the 30 million-ton annual increase in Newcastle's coal exports as a result of the new terminal is "equivalent to a 13 percent increase in Australia's greenhouse pollution," calling the export "Australia's biggest contribution to climate change."

"It's time to stop expanding the coal industry, and start replacing it with sustainable jobs-rich industries that don't threaten everything we hold dear," said Phillips.

Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group Project Director Rob Yeates, while admitting at Monday's opening ceremony that the new export terminal "is not, and will never become, a large employer in its own right," said it "is and will remain a highly effective catalyst for economic growth."

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