Coal Cargo Vessels Leaving Australian Ports:Exports Gaining Mometum

Coal cargo vessels are gradually moving away from the ports in the Queensland region of Australia towards the destination countries, after the temporary suspension of operations due to the damages caused to the transport infrastructure by the Debbie cyclone.

This week, the number of coal vessels waiting at queues at the ports has decreased to 80, from 137 vessels as on 19 Apr’17. Last week, there were 94 vessels waiting in queues.

At the same time, the Goonyella rail line—the major coal transporting rail line, which resumed operations on 26Apr’17, is operating under reduced speed conditions, but the movement of coal is gaining momentum, with an optimistic outlook.

Although the producers, like BHP Billiton, Anglo American, Peabody Energy, Vale, Yancoal, Transcoal and Glencore are yet to lift force majeure, the Hay Point and DBCT coal terminals are loading 1 or 2 ships per day.

However, the Abbot Point Coal Terminal is idle with three cargo ships waiting for the arrival of the trains along the Newlands Rail Line to load sufficient coal to the ships. Likewise, the Port Kembla Coal Terminal is also idle as the ongoing production problems at the South 32 Illawarra Coking Coal mine have restricted loading coal to ships.

CURRENT STATUS OF VESSELS WAITING AT PORT TERMINALS

Source: CoalMint Research