Rail capacity to DBCT meeting agreed contracts, QR says

<p>QRNational said it was delivering coal to Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal (DBCT) at the rate coal producers had contracted them to do so, despite the terminal battling a high vessel queue.</p> <p><em>Lloyd’s List DCN</em> reported yesterday (Monday, March 19) that DBCT claimed to have up to 59m tonnes of shiploading capacity, but that coal was arriving at the port at a rate of 50-51mtpa.</p> <p>Of the 35 vessels anchored last week, 12 were said to be waiting for coal that was yet to leave the mines.</p> <p>DBCT said the remaining queue of 23 vessels was slightly higher than its preferred operating queue of 15-20 ships.</p> <p>But, in a statement to <em>Lloyd’s List DCN</em> this morning, QR said it was presently operating its rolling stock at the level contracted by its customers.</p> <p>&#8220The coal supply chain is complex, and every player in the chain &#8211 mines, rolling stock, track, port and shipping &#8211 interacts with each other in a dynamic way,&#8221 the QR statement said.</p> <p>&#8220These interactions result in total throughput being less than the peak capacity of the individual players.&#8221</p> <p>QR said the flow of coal through DBCT had been complicated by weather disruptions, upgrades and normal operating failures along the supply chain.</p> <p>QR would provide 51mtpa of throughput in 2006&#4707, the company said.</p> <p>&#8220Even if DBCT is theoretically capable of reaching 59Mtpa under defined conditions, the probability that the rest of the supply chain partners can sustainably achieve this level at the same time is very low," the company said.</p> <p>QR said it was always looking to maximise its throughput by working on more efficient methods.</p> <p>DBCT had yesterday cited &#8220supply chain issues&#8221 as one reason that it had not loaded ships at its declared capacity rate of 59mtpa.</p> <p>The queue had been inflated by several days of wet weather earlier this month.</p> <br />