Newcastle coal exports slip - Reuters

Coal shipments from Newcastle port, which ships mostly thermal coal used in power plants, slipped 14 per cent last week.

Exports from the eastern coast port were just short of two million tonnes in the week to February 7, down from 2.3 million the previous week, Newcastle Port Corporation said on its website.

Newcastle ships out coal produced in New South Wales. The region's coal industry has escaped the massive floods, cyclones and resulting production disruptions that have hit its northern neighbours in Queensland.

However, reduced coal production in Queensland, has helped support prices of thermal coal as buyers scramble to replace cargoes from Queensland.
Australia's thermal coal prices on the globalCOAL weekly index, a benchmark for Asia, closed at $US125 per tonne for the week to date on Monday, down more than $US2 from Friday and also lower than the $US127 per tonne seen at the same time last week.

The vessel queue at the port dropped to 9 ships last week, down from 14 the previous week, while the average waiting time for vessels at the port was slightly up at 13 days.
Twenty-four ships were travelling to the port to load coal, down from 27 last week, the port said.

In a separate report, the Hunter Valley Coal Chain Coordinator (HVCCC), which helps coordinate coal exports, put the number of vessels in the queue at the port at 29 by midnight on Monday.
The HVCCC calculates the number of ships in the vessel queue using a wider radius from the port than the Newcastle Port Corporation.