Coal news and updates

Sharp pick-up in coal ship arrivals at Australian Newcastle port amid active buying

Eastern Australia's Newcastle port is expected load coal onto 31 ships steaming towards the port this week, compared with only 19 ships a week ago, according to an operating report for the port Monday.

The higher number of ships destined for the port this week could be due to a recent flurry of tender activity by South Korean and Taiwan-based coal buyers for Australian thermal coal shipped from Newcastle port, said market sources.

There could also be some seasonal factors at play, as Newcastle port's shipping queue usually dips in August and rallies in September as coal buyers restock for the northern hemisphere winter, according to shipping data.

In an operating report for Newcastle port released Monday, the New South Wales port authority said that in the seven day-period to September 21, 31 ships were due to arrive at the eastern Australian port to load coal.

At the time, six ships were waiting off the port while another six were berthed and taking on coal cargoes, said the report with a 7:00 am Sydney time stamp (21:00 GMT Sunday).

A total of 33 ships entered and berthed at Newcastle port's three coal terminals last week, down slightly from 31 ships a week earlier, said the port authority's report.

The upturn in the number of ships headed to Newcastle port this week has yet to show up in statistics for the Port Waratah Coal Services shipping queue which remained in only single figures Tuesday.

The vessel queue for the two terminals operated by PWCS at Newcastle port registered only nine ships Tuesday, same as a week ago.

This is unlikely to change in the next two weeks, said the logistics coordinator for Newcastle port's coal supply chain.

"Based on terminal demand the queue at PWCS is estimated to be less than 10 [ships] at the end of the month," said the Hunter Valley Coal Chain Coordinator in a report Sunday.

The two PWCS terminals shipped 2.3 million mt of coal in the week ended Sunday, up slightly from 2.2 million mt in the week to September 6, said the report.

Export volume and shiploading performance were not available for the Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group-operated terminal at Newcastle port.

source: http://www.platts.com