Coal shipments from Australia’s Newcastle port, the world’s biggest export harbor for the fuel, rose 23 percent last week while the number of vessels waiting to load decreased.
The volume exported in the week ended 7 a.m. local time Aug. 31 was 1.96 million metric tons, compared with 1.59 million tons a week earlier, Newcastle Port Corp. said on its Web site. Forty-two ships, waiting to load 3.34 million tons of coal, were outside the harbour, down from a 20-month high of 50 vessels a week earlier.
Coal ships queued for an average 16 days to load, up from 13.4 days a week earlier, Newcastle Port said. The waiting time compared with 0.65 of a day for general cargo vessels, it said.
Twenty-one ships carrying coal sailed in the week ended Aug. 29, the port said in an e-mailed report today. Fifteen vessels were bound for Japan, two for Spain, one for Taiwan, one for South Korea, one for Thailand and one for China, the port said.
Power-station coal prices at Newcastle port, a benchmark for Asia, fell 2.3 percent to $70.36 a ton in the week ended Aug. 28, according to the globalCOAL NEWC Index.
Rio Tinto Group, Xstrata Plc and BHP Billiton Ltd. are among mining companies that ship coal through Newcastle.
Source: Bloomberg
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