Hunter coal to take two weeks to flow as normal

Congestion-affected coal companies could face more financial misery as Australia’s biggest coal port is not expected to be exporting at full capacity for at least another two weeks. The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) said yesterday (Thursday, June 14) that last week’s storms had caused about $4m of damage to its network and would delay exports from the port of Newcastle. The ARTC has been testing the track and is due to complete repairs in time to re-open the network at 6 pm today. A large backlog of coal trains has been waiting along the network since it began clogging seven days ago. The Hunter Valley Coal Chain Logistics Team estimated that the storms &#8211 which brought major flooding, gale-force winds and heavy seas last Friday &#8211 could ultimately strip the network of about 2m tonnes of annual capacity, now considered a conservative estimate. Port Waratah Coal Services (PWCS) said the delay would have a significant impact on the queue, which was 56 before the storms and had reached 60 by Monday. PWCS was loading vessels at all five berths when the storm struck but has been limited by port restrictions and an unavailability of stockpiled coal because the rail network is still down. Every vessel that would have otherwise loaded this week has had to wait, joining the new arrivals that have appeared on the port’s radar this week. While the capacity balancing system will be used to squeeze out more capacity and attempt to recuperate the lost tonnage, PWCS said the queue would inevitably surge again. PWCS had been working on slashing the queue to about 20 by the end of July and had succeeded in cutting average waiting times by several days to about three weeks. But the coal terminal operator said this week that it would now take some time for the capacity balancing system adjustments and other efforts to take effect. PWCS said it would be August or September before queues would fall back to 20 and bring to an end an inflated queue that began in August last year. The 2m of total lost capacity caused by the storms &#8211 already worth an estimated $100m &#8211 could increase if coal producers are not able to supply their contracted volumes of coal because of flooding and production delays. ARTC acting chief executive Wayne James said the corporation’s employees had worked hard to repair the rail network in less than eight days. &#8220This mammoth contribution from our employees and contractors has enabled the network to reopen for business within a remarkably short time,&#8221 Mr James said. The rail network will be subject to temporary speed restrictions of 20-30 km&#47h along the 23 km single track between Branxton and Singleton, about 50 km from the port.

No Results