July 1 (Bloomberg) -- Australia’s Dalrymple Bay port, the world’s third-largest coal export terminal, may further increase cargo-handling capacity as producers of the fuel boost output.

Studies are under way to determine the viability of a future expansion after coal producers expressed interest in further export capacity, Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal Pty said in a statement filed to the Australian stock exchange today.

Dalrymple Bay, owned by Babcock Brown Infrastructure Group, handles coal from 19 mines in Queensland’s Bowen Basin region and customers include Rio Tinto Ltd. and Xstrata Plc. A A$1.3 billion ($1.05 billion) expansion to boost annual capacity to 85 million metric tons has been completed, the port said today.

Babcock Brown Infrastructure, which is divesting transport and energy assets to cut debt, said in March that offers for Dalrymple Bay were due in the second quarter.

The company said today the expiry date to meet conditions for a planned sale of a stake in Euroports has been extended to July 31. Euroports has majority holdings in ports in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Sydney-listed Babcock Brown Infrastructure gained 4.35 percent to 7.2 Australian cents at 11:24 a.m. local time, valuing it at about of A$179 million. The shares have dropped 90 percent over the past 12 months, compared with the 25 percent decline in the main S&P/ASX 200 Index.

Macarthur Coal Ltd., the world’s biggest exporter of pulverized coal that ships through Dalrymple Bay port, said on June 18 it plans to double production over the next five years.

---Editors: Ryan Woo, John Viljoen.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 30, 2009 22:43 EDT