Australia’s Newcastle coal ship queue increases

The shipping queue outside the key Australian coal port of Newcastle hit a two-year high of 41 vessels on 5 August, despite higher throughput at the Port Waratah Coal Service (PWCS) terminals.

• The average vessel turnaround time in July at PWCS eased to 7.38 days from a 22-month high of 7.61 days in June as exports increased but the shipping queue grew on increased arrivals.
• The PWCS terminals' shipments rose to 8.61mn t in July from 7.9mn t in June but was down from 8.79mn t in July 2023, according to PWCS data.
• There was no maintenance planned for July but the port of Newcastle was hit by storms and rough seas during the month. There is a major rail maintenance programme under way during 3-6 August.
• Newcastle Coal Infrastructure (NCIG) does not release data for its terminal at Newcastle, while the Port Authority of New South Wales has not yet released overall data for July. Newcastle shipped 12.28mn t in June, up from 11.77mn t in May. This implies that NCIG shipped 4.38mn t in June.
• Newcastle shipped 73.2mn t during January-June, up from 67.98mn t for January-June 2023, according to port data.

By Jo Clarke