Hunter coal chain aims to operate at 70% of capacity

<p>The port of Newcastle has re-commenced coal loading after severe weather caused a seven-day shutdown, as Port Waratah Coal Services (PWCS) waits for rail operators to delivery enough coal to the port for the terminals to begin new shipments.</p> <p>The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) re-opened parts of its Hunter coal network on Friday (June 15), but shiploading operations at the port are being hampered by limited pad access, flooding and a shortage of coal.</p> <p>PWCS typically stockpiles about 1m tonnes of coal at the port, allowing it to load ships at a rate of 270,000 tonnes a day.</p> <p>There was just 550,000 tonnes of coal waiting at its two terminals yesterday, not enough for any new complete shipments.</p> <p>The total network shutdown was expected to have cost coal producers about $120m in unmet contracts but no figure has been put on the overall cost given that the supply chain is not expected to be back to full capacity until late June.</p> <p>PWCS general manager Graham Davidson said the delays would cause the queue to reach the mid-70s by June 25, an increase from the 56 vessels waiting before the storm.</p> <p>&#8220The disappointing thing is that we were running 7% more coal through the system than we were doing before, by the end of June we thought we’d be up around 10% more coal,&#8221 Mr Davidson said.</p> <p>&#8220It’s really put us about one to two months behind."</p> <p>PWCS normally loads about 20 vessels a week, so the increase of 11 vessels since the storms 10 days ago is considered low.</p> <p>There were 67 ships waiting this morning, of which three are expected to enter the port to begin loading this afternoon.</p> <p>One vessel was due to complete loading at the Kooragang terminal and leave the port this afternoon.</p> <p>Hunter coal logistics members expect to operate the coal chain at 50-70% of its normal 270,000 tonne a day for the next two days.</p> <p>ARTC track repairs should allow the system capacity to reach 80% by mid week.</p> <p>Mr Davidson said it had been the ARTC that had been the most affected by the rain.</p> <p>&#8220When you see the pictures of how it was washed out and what they’ve done, I think they’ve done pretty well and I take my hat off to them,&#8221 he said. </p> <br />