Newcastle Coal Exports Rise 23%; Ship Queue Lengthens (Update1)

June 22, 2010, 7:39 PM EDT

(Updates with coal volume in second paragraph.)


By Ben Sharples

June 23 (Bloomberg) -- Coal shipments from Australia’s Newcastle port, the world’s biggest export harbor for the fuel used in power stations, rose 23 percent last week while the number of vessels waiting to load increased.

The volume exported in the week ended 7 a.m. local time June 21 climbed to 2.04 million metric tons from 1.66 million tons in the preceding period, Newcastle Port Corp. said on its website today. Rio Tinto Group, Xstrata Plc and BHP Billiton Ltd. are among mining companies that ship the fuel from the harbor.

Fifty-one vessels were outside the harbor, up from 48 a week earlier. The queue reached 60 in December, the longest since July 2007. Coal ships waited to load for an average of 14.67 days, up from 12.30 days, the port said in its report. That compares with 2.26 days for general-cargo vessels.

Power-station coal prices at Newcastle, an Asian benchmark, rose by 1.1 percent, increasing for a third week, according to the globalCOAL NEWC Index. Prices climbed to $100.40 a ton from $99.30 in the week to June 18.

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-22/newcastle-coal-exports-rise-23-ship-queue-lengthens-update1-.html

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