BEIJING—The queue of ships waiting to load at Newcastle, Australia’s largest coal-export port, lengthened to a record as freight rates for shipping the fuel rose to the highest in more than two years. The numbers of ships waiting to load rose to 72 Tuesday, an increase of one from a week earlier, the Newcastle Port Corp. said in a statement. The Baltic Panamax index, which measures earnings for ships that carry about 75,000 metric tons of coal and other dry-bulk commodities, rose to 5,254, the highest since December 2004. The index has risen 23 percent this year.

Rio Tinto Group, BHP Billiton Ltd. and Xstrata Plc have increased shipments of coal after China cut exports to meet domestic demand. Bottlenecks at the port and on the rail system in New South Wales prevented miners from fulfilling orders, lengthening shipping delays and increasing costs for suppliers.

“It will take some time for the ports to increase capacity and we also have problems with rail transportation,” Kelly Cosgrove, general manager for marketing, pricing and customer service at Rio Tinto Coal, said in Beijing. “It’s a bottleneck. Australia is still chucking along and shipping a lot of coal into the international market.”

Coal prices at the port were little changed $54.39 a ton on April 13, 2 cents less than a week earlier, according to the GlobalCOAL index of Newcastle coal prices.

Last week, 7 ships sailed from Newcastle carrying coal, up from 15 in the previous seven days. Eight vessels headed to Japan, four to South Korea, two to the Netherlands and one to Chile, Tuesday’s statement said.

Most of the vessels shipping coal from Newcastle are Panamaxes, named as the largest class of ship able to sail the Panama canal. (Bloomberg)

DESPITE sluggish cargo volumes at the Batangas port, the company running the facility posted higher earnings last year owing to its domestic and international operations.

THE Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) will begin hiring hundreds of employees—possibly after the May elections—once it secures government approval to reduce a third of its workforce, mostly rank and file staff. 

HONG KONG—Hong Kong port operators including Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and PSA International Pte handled 8.8 percent fewer boxes in March, the biggest drop in nine months, as China’s trade growth slowed and shippers opted for cheaper mainland harbors.