Eastern US coal exports mixed in August

OREANDA-NEWS. September 17, 2015. Coal export loadings at eastern US terminals were mixed in August.

Shipments out of Hampton Roads, Virginia, which is typically the largest eastern US coal handler, fell by 33pc to just under 2mn short tons (1.81mn metric tonnes). Exports out of McDuffie Terminals in Mobile, Alabama, also declined, to 926,876st from 1.06mn st a year earlier.

But shipments out of CSX's Curtis Bay terminal in Baltimore more than doubled to 756,982st from 284,784st. CSX said there were no special issues boosting volumes for the month. Buyers in India, among other countries, have been heard to have come back into the market for Northern Appalachia coal and some producers looking to offload excess supply may be willing to take low seaborne prices.

Exports out of CSX's terminal have risen on a year-over-year basis in 10 of the last 12 months. Year-to-date shipments totaled 4.68mn st, up from 3.11mn st in the same period of 2014.

Shipments from terminals that have more exposure to Central Appalachian or coking coal markets have softened. Port loadings out of Mobile, which predominantly handles coal from Walter Energy's Alabama mines, has fallen to 7.4mn st from 7.93mn st a year ago. In light of multi-year low coking coal export prices, Walter has scaled back mine operations and, in July, entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

Sinking coking coal markets as well as low thermal coal export prices also have weighed on shipments out of Hampton Roads. So far this year, exports have plunged by 35pc to 19.7mn st. Within the port, exports out of Norfolk Southern's Lamberts Point terminals have fallen to 7.97mn st from 12.2mn st in January-August 2014. Kinder Morgan's Pier IX terminal has handled 4.39mn st in the year through August, down from 7.68mn st a year earlier, and Dominion Terminal Associates (DTA) shipped 6.89mn st compared with 9.69mn st.

DTA is jointly owned by Alpha Natural Resources, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August, Arch Coal and Peabody Energy. For August alone, the terminal handled 677,542st of coal for export. That was 25pc less than a year earlier.

Lamberts Point volumes fell to 1.08mn st in August from 1.37mn st, while Pier IX dropped by nearly two-thirds to 244,360st.

Hampton Roads terminals are also handling less imports this year. Coastwise shipments through DTA, the only terminal at the port that has been taking imports this year, fell to 23,457st in August from 40,369 in the same month of 2014. Year-to-date volumes into Hampton Roads have fallen to 435,821st from 817,038st.

Coastwise shipments through Curtis Bay and through Mobile have also declined, to 1.83mn st and 2.24mn st, respectively, so far this year.