Australia Newcastle coal exports up 14 percent in week

Coal shipments from Australia's Newcastle port, the world's  argest thermal coal export terminal, rose 14 percent last week, as exports were unaffected by  he heavy rains slowing shipments in neighbouring Queensland state.    
Exports from the eastern coast New South Wales port totalled 2.35 million tonnes in the  eek to Dec. 13, up from 2.07 million the previous week, Newcastle Port Corporation said on  ts website on Tuesday.        
Australia's thermal coal prices on the globalCOAL weekly index, a benchmark for Asia,  losed at $118.75 per tonne for the week to date on Monday, up from $116.22 a week earlier.         
The vessel queue at the port rose to 16 ships last week, up two from the previous week,  hile the average waiting time for vessels at the port 14.56 days, up from 12.32 days previous week.        
Twenty-six ships were travelling to the port to load coal, down from 29 last week, the  port said.  In a separate report, the Hunter Valley Coal Chain Coordinator (HVCCC), which helps  coordinate coal exports, put the number of vessels in the queue at the port at 39 by midnight  in Dec. 13, down from 43 the previous week.        
The HVCCC calculates the number of ships in the vessel queue using a wider radius from the
port than the Newcastle Port Corporation.