Bell Bay is an industrial centre and port located on the eastern shore of the

Tamar River The Tamar River, officially kanamaluka / River Tamar, is a estuary located in northern Tasmania, Australia. Despite being called a river, the waterway is a brackish and tidal estuary over its entire length. Location and features Formed by the ...

, in northern

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, 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.

History

Bell Bay Post Office opened on 18 September 1951 and closed in 1973.

Industry

Bell Bay has an

aluminium smelter Aluminium smelting is the process of extracting aluminium from its oxide, alumina, generally by the Hall-Héroult process. Alumina is extracted from the ore bauxite by means of the Bayer process at an alumina refinery. This is an electrolytic ...

operated by

Rio Tinto Rio Tinto, meaning "red river", may refer to: Businesses * Rio Tinto (corporation), an Anglo-Australian multinational mining and resources corporation ** Rio Tinto Alcan, based in Canada ** Rio Tinto Borax in America *** Rio Tinto Borax Mine, a ...

(previously by

Comalco Rio Tinto Aluminium (previously known as Comalco) is now known as Rio Tinto Alcan after Rio's takeover of Alcan. It was the world's eighth largest aluminium company. It mines and manufactures bauxite, alumina and primary aluminium. Rio Tinto Al ...

), and the Tasmanian Electro Metallurgical Company manganese alloy smelter operated by

South32 South32 is a mining and metals company headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It was spun out of BHP Billiton on 18 May 2015. It is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange with secondary listings on the Johannesburg and London Stock E ...

(previously by

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

). The

Bell Bay Power Station The Bell Bay Power Station was a power station located in Bell Bay, on the Tamar River, Tasmania, Australia, adjacent to the Tamar Valley Power Station, with which it was often confused. It was commissioned between 1971 and 1974 as an oil fir ...

was decommissioned in 2009, replaced by the

Tamar Valley Power Station Tamar Valley Power Station is a $230 million natural gas-fired power station located in Bell Bay in the Tamar Valley, Tasmania. It is owned by Hydro Tasmania, and is immediately adjacent to the decommissioned Bell Bay Power Station, which is al ...

built next door.

Transport

Bell Bay was connected to the

Tasmanian Government Railways The Tasmanian Government Railways (TGR) was the former operator of the mainline railways in Tasmania, Australia. Formed in 1872, the railway company was managed by the Government of Tasmania, and existed until absorption into the Australian Na ...

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. Primarily built to carry logs for export, today it carries

intermodal containers An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, is a large standardized shipping container, designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different modes of transport – from ship ...

to and from the port.

Berths

The first Bell Bay wharf was opened in 1927. Today it has seven berths including Long Reach South:

References

Bass Strait Ports and harbours of Tasmania Railway freight terminals in Australia Tamar River Towns in Tasmania Localities of George Town Council {{Tasmania-geo-stub