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Australia’s
Newcastle port, the world’s biggest coal-export harbor,
increased shipments of the fuel by less than expected in
the first quarter as wet weather and lack of available
coal crimped loadings early in the period.
Shipments at the port’s two coal terminals rose 6.8
percent to 22.26 million metric tons in the three months
ended March 31, from 20.84 million a year earlier, Port
Waratah Coal Services Ltd. said in a report.
Xstrata
Plc., Rio Tinto Group and other miners that ship coal
through Newcastle are seeking to lift exports to meet
rising energy demand in
Asia. Bottlenecks at
Newcastle, together with flooding in Queensland state to
the north, helped drive prices for power-station coal
from Newcastle to a record this year.
Coal
throughput via the rail and port system for the Hunter
Valley mines was 6 percent below plan in January because
of a lower arrival rate of ships at Newcastle, according
to an e-mail today from Graham Davidson, general manager
of Port Waratah. February throughput was about 9.1
percent below budget, while March loadings were almost
in line with plan, according to figures provided in the
e-mail.
Capacity
through the rail and port system is expected to run at
an annualized rate of 95.3 million tons in the second
quarter, Hunter Valley Coal Chain Logistics Team,
coordinator of coal transportation through the rail and
port system, said in a March 31 statement.
Queue of
Ships
The
average number of vessels waiting outside the port to
load coal was 33 in the first quarter, down from 59 a
year earlier, Port Waratah said. Ships had to wait an
average of 13.1 days to load coal, down from 22.4 days.
The
queue is forecast to shorten through April and May after
mining companies had their port capacity allocations cut
by 1.1 million tons in March, Davidson said in the
e-mail. The reduction in allocations doesn’t affect the
amount of coal exported, rather the rate at which ships
arrive off the port, he said.
The
number of waiting ships should decline to 30 by the end
of the month, from 41 at the end of March, and then to
18 by the end of May, Hunter Valley Coal Chain Logistics
Team said on its web site.
Japan
received 64 percent of first-quarter shipments from
Newcastle,
while South Korea got 15 percent, Taiwan 13 percent and
China 1.45 percent, Port Waratah said. Eighty-two
percent of exports comprised coal burned in power
stations, while the rest was the grade used by
steelmakers, it said.
The
global COAL NEWC index for thermal coal delivered from
Newcastle reached a record $139.16 a ton in the week
ended Feb. 15. The index was at $119.50 last week.
Last
year, shipments at the
New South Wales
port were 84.8 million tons, 6.3 percent below target.
(Bloomberg) |
