Australia's Newcastle Coal Shipments Dropped 4.5% Last Week

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

30 Jan 2008

Coal shipments from Australia's Newcastle port, the world's largest export harbor for the fuel, fell last week. Loadings declined 4.5 percent to about 1.99 million metric tons in the week ended 7 a.m. local time Jan. 28 from 2.09 million tons the previous week, Newcastle Port Corp. said today on its Web site. Twenty-two vessels were queuing off the port as of yesterday morning, seven fewer than a week ago. Thermal coal prices at Newcastle, a benchmark for Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, rose to a record $93.35 a ton in the week ended Jan. 25, according to the globalCOAL NEWC index, as floods reduce output in Australia's Queensland state and snowfall hampered shipments in China. Xstrata Plc, Rio Tinto Group and other miners are struggling to meet increasing demand due to bottlenecks in port and rail networks in Australia's east. An average of 8.95 days was needed to load coal last week compared with 0.19 day for general cargo, the port company said.