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]
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]
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]
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