Richards Bay Coal Terminal’s (RBCT) Coal exports for Q1 2014 have declined by 7% compared to same period of last year. In Q1, port has shipped around 16 MnT, than Q1 of last year shipment i.e. 17.2 MnT.
RBCT export shipments in Mar ’14 increased by around 54% to 6.1 MnT, whereas ports has faced intense power cuts and heavy rains during previous month led exports to slow for a while. However, shipment returned on track and with current pace, it’s expected that port will ship around more than 71 MnT of Coal during 2014.
Total 150 vessels with an average of 50 vessels each month have carried around 16 MnT Coal and about 64% vessel was Cape size, 17.3% vessel was Panamax size and 18.7% vessels were Handy size.
RBCT port has received around 2005 railway rakes during Q1 2014, which carried around 15.9 MnT of Coal in port. During the March, port receives around 774 rakes and on an average around 668 rakes brought the Coal in port.
RBCT is the world’s single commodity largest port with the capacity of around 91 MnT is the exporting gate for the world. Last year in 2013, RBCT has exported around 70.23 MnT of Coal. Port is also working to increase its capacity by 19 MnT with the combine efforts of Transnet Freight Rail (TFR).
Owing to low demand from international market, South African thermal Coal prices have slashed by 13% during first quarter of 2014. South African 6,000 NAR Kcal/Kg (VM < 22%) grade Coal is currently trading at USD 73-74/MT FOB, which was around USD 84-85/MT during early Jan ’14.
Currently, South African 6,000 NAR Coal is offered at USD 90-91/MT CFR India and USD 92-93/MT CFR China with Panamax quantity.
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