{"id":298839,"date":"2025-11-21T08:06:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T08:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/298839\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T08:06:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T08:06:09","slug":"fuel-tanker-racing-to-unload-in-darwin-ahead-of-tropical-cyclone-fina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/298839\/","title":{"rendered":"Fuel tanker racing to unload in Darwin ahead of Tropical Cyclone Fina"},"content":{"rendered":"

A fuel tanker is racing to unload diesel at Darwin Port as Tropical Cyclone Fina moves towards the Northern Territory’s capital.<\/p>\n

According to Darwin Port chief executive Peter Dummett, the NT had only “four to five days” of diesel reserves.<\/p>\n

He said the ship’s arrival was fast-tracked as the region prepares for one of its earliest cyclones on record.<\/p>\n

“The [tanker] wasn’t due into Darwin until Sunday, but we contacted the agents and sped the ship up to get it into Darwin and get as much fuel off as we can,” Mr Dummett said.<\/p>\n

“We then need to clear the harbour of all ships and move ships off the wharf so vessels don’t get damaged, infrastructure doesn’t get damaged, and crews are safe.”<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

Mr Dummett said the port would likely close as of 9pm Friday evening and the tanker, Ardmore Seawolf, would be the last vessel to leave the harbour.<\/p>\n

“It’s getting as much diesel to the Northern Territory as possible, but then will head out so the port can close down,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Dummett said a cruise ship that was due into Darwin this weekend has been diverted to Dili in Timor-Leste.<\/p>\n

Cattle ship delayed<\/p>\n

A live cattle ship due to dock at Darwin Port on Saturday will now wait in the Timor Sea for the cyclone to pass.<\/p>\n

The Ganado Express was due to load up with NT cattle bound for Indonesia, but is now scheduled to load on Wednesday next week.<\/p>\n

“So that ship will be well out of harm’s way and wait for the storm to pass, and once it’s deemed safe to reopen the harbour we will be back to business,” Mr Dummett said.<\/p>\n

Cattle exporter Patrick Underwood said the live export trade was rushing to move thousands of cattle off flood plains in the Top End.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Live cattle exports will be delayed out of Darwin. (ABC Rural: Carl Curtain)<\/p>\n

He said with the weather bureau forecasting potential rainfall totals of more than 300 millimetres, the cattle trade was making sure stock were moved to areas that could be accessed when live cattle ships returned to port.<\/p>\n

Mr Underwood spoke to ABC Rural<\/a> while moving 6,000 head of cattle off Litchfield Station.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got two cattle ships [due into Darwin] in about seven, eight or nine days’ time,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There’s a little window here to get these cattle out, or they might be behind water or broken roads for a couple of weeks, so we’re in a bit of a hurry.”<\/p>\n

\"Track<\/p>\n

The latest BOM track map shows Tropical Cyclone Fina making landfall near Minjilang, then passing between the Tiwi Islands and Darwin. (Supplied: Bureau of Meteorology)<\/p>\n

Mr Underwood said about 1,000 cattle were moved off the station last night and another 3,200 were trucked today.<\/p>\n

“So we’re just loaded 13 triple road-trains before lunch and another five this afternoon,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Obviously we’re going to put a little bit of pressure on the export yards, particularly if they end up getting a direct hit.<\/p>\n

“But I know the yards have all got their plans.<\/p>\n

“We’re confident the cattle will be well looked after and at least we know that we can load them on ships when we need them.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A fuel tanker is racing to unload diesel at Darwin Port as Tropical Cyclone Fina moves towards the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,170970,145729,170058,143120,170971,170968,170969,44,170972,170024],"class_list":{"0":"post-298839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-bom-cyclone-forecast","11":"tag-cyclone","12":"tag-cyclone-preparation","13":"tag-darwin-port","14":"tag-darwin-weather","15":"tag-live-cattle-export","16":"tag-live-export","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-northern-territory-weather-warnings","19":"tag-tropical-cyclone-fina"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}