SINGAPORE—Courage Marine Group Ltd., a Singapore-listed shipping company, won a contract to transport coal from Indonesia to China, where the worst snowstorms in 50 years have disrupted supplies.

The owner and operator of eight dry-bulk carriers will ship the emergency supplies in two handy-size vessels to Guangzhou in south China from Kalimantan in Indonesia starting this week, Courage Marine said in an e-mailed statement Monday. Each handy-size vessel can carry up to 35,000 metric tons.

Snowstorms in China clogged transportation routes as 200 million migrant workers headed home for the Lunar New Year holiday. More snowfall is expected in Southern China next week, the China Meteorological Administration said Monday.

“We expect to have more of such contracts as the demand for coal in the south part of China is so high,” Carl Yuen, a spokesman for Courage Marine, said by telephone from Hong Kong. “We are currently in discussions for more such contracts.”

Courage Marine was approached to ship the fuel 10 days ago, Yuen said, declining to identify the customer or name the vessels.

Both ships were chartered at current spot freight rates, he said.

China shut 7 percent of its coal-fired power plants after snow hampered transportation of the fuel, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said January 28. Power shortages affected at least half of the 31 provinces in a nation that burns coal to generate about 78 percent of its electricity.

The country is observing a weeklong Lunar New Year holiday, which ends February 12. (Bloomberg)

Harder approval for cuts in port-usage fees

EXPORTERS may find it more difficult to convince the government to extend wharfage discounts for goods sold abroad after a port body was ordered to course such requests to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) has credited a Japanese aid agency for giving it the capacity to undertake postentry audits of all goods that pass through Philippine ports.

CEBU-BASED Cokaliong Shipping Lines Inc. said it would acquire a new vessel this year to expand its domestic missionary routes in Visayas and Mindanao.

SYDNEY—Coal prices rose to a record for a third straight week at Australia’s Newcastle port, a benchmark for Asia, as snowstorms in China cut exports, adding to supply disruptions in Australia and South Africa.

HONG KONG—Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the world’s largest shipbuilder, said it may make an initial public offering of shares in Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co., aiming to benefit from the unit’s orderbook of more than three years.

SINGAPORE—Courage Marine Group Ltd., a Singapore-listed shipping company, won a contract to transport coal from Indonesia to China, where the worst snowstorms in 50 years have disrupted supplies.