The vessel queue at the three terminals for coal exports at Australia’s Newcastle port fell to 39 vessels this week from 55 a week a week ago, with no maintenance on the Hunter Valley rail network this week, the Port Authority of New South Wales said in a report Monday.
There were eight vessels in the port loading Monday, with nine off the port waiting to load.
During the week, 37 coal ships entered the port, with each waiting an average time of 9.82 days, according to the report.
The Hunter Valley Coal Chain Coordinator said in a separate report Sunday that delivery of coal by rail during the week had doubled on the week to 3.6 million mt from 1.8 million mt.
The weekly volume surpassed the expected inbound railings volume of 3.5 million mt.
The port’s two terminals operated by Port Waratah Coal Services shipped out 2.3 million mt of coal during the week, rising 6.1% on the week, HVCCC said. However, the throughput volume missed the 2.46 million mt target.
The PWCS terminals’ stock levels were at 1.3 million mt Sunday, falling 0.6% week on week.
HVCCC reported the PWCS terminals had a vessel queue of 22 Sunday, slipping from 33 on the week, adding that the queue was expected to be 18 at the end of June, based on demand, with June’s nominations currently at 5.4 million mt.
No operational data was provided for the terminal run by the Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group.
Producers forecast arrivals at 8.7 million mt for May, up from last week’s forecast of 8.5 million mt, with June’s volume expected to be 9 million mt and July’s at 9.6 million mt, according to HVCCC.
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