Richards Bay Coal Terminal Shipments Declined 7.4% in February - Bloomberg

Richards Bay Coal Terminal Ltd., Africa’s largest export facility for the fuel, said shipments fell 7.4 percent last month. Shipments from the port on South Africa’s northeast coast dropped to 4.57 million metric tons in February from 4.94 million tons a year earlier,

RBCT said today on its website, without giving a reason.
RBCT, whose owners include BHP Billiton Ltd. and Anglo American Plc, said in January that first-quarter exports will be affected by train derailments following heavy rains. The reduced rail service forced coal suppliers to tap stockpiles, which shrank to 1.7 million tons at the end of 2010 from 2.98 million tons on Nov. 30.
Prices for coal traded through RBCT rose 22 percent to an average $117.84 a ton in February from a month earlier, according to IHS McCloskey data on Bloomberg. The port received 5.52 million tons during the month, and had stocks of 2.8 million tons, said RBCT, which has capacity to export 91 million tons annually.

The freight rail unit of state-owned Transnet Ltd. aims to deliver 68 million tons of coal to the port this year, up from 63 million tons last year, Mxolisi Mgojo, head of coal at mining company Exxaro Resources Ltd., said Feb. 24. Transnet Freight Rail will comment later, Sandile Simelane, a spokesman for the unit, said today by mobile phone.