[Ferro-Alloys.com]Shipments from the four key Queensland coal ports in Australia fell to a six-year low in February owing to flooding and a train derailment but are set to rebound in March.

 

The ports of Hay Point, Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal (DBCT), Abbot Point and Gladstone shipped 12.37mn t of coal in February, down from a six-month low of 15.45mn t in January and from 14.12mn t in February 2022, according to port data. This is the least shipped by these ports since April 2017 when Cyclone Debbie cut deliveries to Hay Point and DBCT for nearly a month.

 

The slow start to Queensland coal shipping for 2023 has seen ship queues at the adjacent ports of Hay Point and DBCT remain at an above average 51 as it was in mid-February, but up from 37 in mid-January. The Queue at Gladstone is also longer than normal with 40 vessels waiting at anchor on 14 March, up from 30 on 9 February. This gives the ports an opportunity to ramp up throughput in March, if coal supply is strong enough.

 

Abbot Point was the only major Queensland coal port to cut its queue from 11 on 9 February to 2 on 14 March. It was also the only one to ship above 2022 monthly average volumes in February, as it was the least disrupted during the month.

 

The 55mn t/yr Hay Point, which is operated by BHP Mitsubishi Alliance, had a particularly weak February as it struggled to recover from flooding on delivery pathways in January and worked through some planned maintenance. DBCT, the adjacent port, had stronger throughput in February after a particularly weak January, but still below its average of 4.34mn t/month seen in 2022 and far short of its nameplate capacity of 7.08mn t/month.

 

Coal shipments from Gladstone were at a record low in February following a derailment outside the port.

 

The La Nina weather pattern is easing, which should bring drier weather to onshore Queensland, and February was a drier than average month for most of the coal mining, railing and shipping regions of the state. The first half of March has been wetter, but nothing too extreme.

 

Argus assessed high-grade 6,000 kcal/kg NAR thermal coal at $184.07/t fob Newcastle on 10 March, down from $402.02/t on 6 January and from a peak of $444.59/t on 9 September. It assessed the premium hard low-volatile metallurgical coal price at $360/t fob Australia on 13 March, up from $314.75/t on 6 January and from $244.75/t on 24 November. argusmedia