Coal news and updates

Three shipping terminals for coal exports in the Australian state of Queensland suspended shipments Tuesday on the advice of local harbor masters, because a cyclone weather system forming in the Coral Sea is threatening Queensland's northeastern coastline, sources at the terminals said.

 

Glencore's Abbot Point terminal, BHP Billiton's Hay Point terminal and the Dalrymple Bay terminal which is operated by Canadian company Brookfield Asset Management, stopped loading coal onto vessels on Tuesday, said sources.

 

The as-yet-unnamed cyclone was developing in the Coral Sea approximately 870 km east-northeast of the north Queensland town of Cairns, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said in an update Tuesday at 2:30 pm Australian eastern standard time (0530 GMT).

 

"A tropical low weather system could be heading to Cairns later this week," said a source at the Dalrymple Bay coal terminal, which has a coal export capacity of 85 million mt/year -- making it the largest coal shipment facility in Queensland.

 

Around 20 ships waiting to load coal exports at the Dalrymple Bay terminal moved further out to sea Monday as a safety measure due to rough seas, and the terminal is not allowing ships to berth, possibly until Friday.

 

"The terminal has suspended berthing operations. Ships are at anchor and cannot get tugged into the terminal," said a second terminal source, adding it was not clear when shiploading operations would resume.

 

Dalrymple Bay terminal is still receiving deliveries by train from its 20 customer coal mines in Queensland's Bowen Basin coal field, but railings into the terminal may have to stop as its stockpile capacity limit of around 1.4 million mt may be reached as soon as Wednesday.

 

"There is 1.2 million mt of coal in the yard currently, which is getting close to capacity," said the second source.

 

At neighboring Hay Point coal terminal, which like Dalrymple Bay terminal is situated at the port of Hay Point on Queensland's central coast around 40 km south of Mackay, coal shipment operations were also halted Tuesday.

 

"BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance confirms that shiploading at Hay Point coal terminal has ceased temporarily due to weather conditions," BHP Billiton, the terminal's operator, said in an emailed statement.

 

The miner's statement said it was monitoring the cyclone weather system closely and would resume ship berthing at Hay Point when it becomes safe to do so.

 

BHP Billiton added: "Any material impact on production is reported in BHP Billiton's quarterly operational review," and this report is due for release in mid-April. Hay Point terminal's capacity for coal exports is being upgraded to 55 million mt/year.

 

Vessel-loading operations were also on hold at the Glencore-operated Abbot Point coal terminal located higher up on Queensland's coast near the town of Bowen.

 

Gale force winds prevented ships from being brought into port, a source at the facility said Tuesday.

 

Three ships were at anchor offshore the Abbot Point terminal -- which has a coal shipment capacity of 50 million mt/year -- and were unable to load coal cargoes.

 

A total of 31 ships were unable to load cargoes at the three affected Queensland coal terminals, representing about 4.5 million mt of coal exports, including an estimated eight ships at BHP's Hay Point terminal, according to Platts calculations.

 

In the event of delays to vessel loadings at ports, shipowners usually expect compensation in the form of demurrage payments from the charterers of those ships or from coal producers.

 

Individual harbor masters in Queensland take the lead in determining whether to close a port for safety reasons in the event of a tropical cyclone, North Queensland Bulk Ports Corp., the port authority for Abbot Point and Hay Point ports, said in an emailed statement.

 

Queensland's Gladstone port which has two coal terminals -- Barney Point and RG Tanna -- remained open for coal shipments Tuesday, although rough seas prevented the berthing of one coal ship overnight, according to shipping sources.

 

Gladstone Ports Corp., the port authority for Gladstone port, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

 

 

Source: Platts