Newcastle and Dalrymple Bay queues increase

The port of Newcastle is closing in on a record vessel queue as coal producers prepare for the scrapping of the port’s capacity balancing system. Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal (DBCT) has seen its vessel queue increase to a normal operating number. The Hunter Valley Coal Chain Logistics Team’s weekly report yesterday (Monday, November 13) predicted the queue off Newcastle would push out from 40 to 50 ships within two weeks, peaking at 52 ships by early December. The present queue is already the longest seen in more than two years. Port Waratah Coal Services (PWCS) requested Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) approval for a preliminary version of the capacity balancing system (CBS) in February 2004 after seeing queues blow out to 54 ships. Then chairwoman Eileen Doyle said the system was designed to cut queues and without it &#8220the vessel queue would go from 30 to 80 ships&#8221 by the end of 2004. The CBS slashed vessel queues by limiting coal producers to set quarterly capacity allocations, creating smoother coal flows from the port. The port will now face a similarly undesirable queue less than a month before the CBS is scrapped &#8211 a move that coal producers approved in September. The logistics team was unable to be contacted this morning. The queue had fallen to 28 less than two weeks ago, before planned maintenance began shutting down the network this month. The logistics team expected to load ships at an annual rate of 98.7m tonnes this month, which would have allowed it to handle most of the 7.8m tonnes expected to be pushed through the port in November. The network has operated at about an 88m tonnes rate, despite six days of planned maintenance scheduled this month. Average waiting times have dropped to about nine days, down from 15 for ships entering in the week leading up to October 23. Meanwhile, the DBCT vessel queue returned to about 16 ships this week, after the queue fell to levels that disrupted throughput. DBCT operations manager Greg Smith said the terminal was now loading at a rate of about 54m tonnes each year amid stronger demand for coal. &#8220That’s tended to boost the queue up from where we were two weeks ago, when we had five or six ships out there,&#8221 Mr Smith said. &#8220There was a certain lack of global demand, too.&#8221 Coal producers will make their regular review of the terminal’s queue management system (QMS) early next year in accordance with ACCC regulations.

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