Two people who were occupying coal loading machinery at Port Kembla on Thursday morning in a bid to stop coal being loaded onto a Taiwanese bulk carrier have been arrested.
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Around 20 protesters also blocked an access road at the coal terminal.
It was part of a series of protests by a group called Front Line Action on Coal.
Similar protests took place at coal ports along the east coast, including Brisbane, and Newcastle, the world’s largest coal port.
“Police Rescue have been [at Port Kembla] a number of hours. And we think the second person is still up there,” spokeswoman Rada Germanos said early on Thursday morning.
“We are a grass roots action group holding action,” she said.
Ms Germanos said the action was being taken because Australia’s ongoing coal exports were at odds with global efforts to tackle climate change.
When the two climbers accessed the machinery they unfurled banners reading “No New Coal” and “Australia: Exporting Climate Change”.
The other group tried to prevent coal trucks reaching the coal terminal.
Ms Germanos said the group were calling for a halt to new coal expansion in New South Wales, with a genuine effort to support job creation and re-skilling workers in sustainable industries.
“500 jobs were lost at BlueScope Steel in September – we do not want to see coal workers and families in the Illawarra suffer the same sudden job losses as global coal demand drops, simply due to a lack of government planning.”
The protest at Newcastle saw two people lock themselves onto equipment at Kooragang, while at Brisbane there was a tree sit with people blocking the railway.
In Newcastle, three coal port protesters were taken into police custody while in Brisbane police arrested the man that was suspended on a platform by a cable attached to the rail line at the port, preventing coal from entering the port.
