Australia's Port of Brisbane will remain closed at least until Sunday to all commercial shipping due to continued flood-related strong currents and debris, it said Thursday.
"The earliest possible movements of priority shipping in the port would be Sunday, 16 January," it said in a statement on its website. "Any ship movements will be...only allowed under strict conditions by time, area, currents, and channel conditions. Movements will also be subject to the channel being unobstructed by sunken debris or other navigational hazards." However, it added the floods that hit Queensland and Brisbane this week had not damaged any port infrastructure.
"Roads have remained open and our power supply is stable," it said. COAL EXPORTS
Disruption from this week's floods to ports and other operations are reckoned to have held back 14 million mt of coal from the seaborne-traded markets to date, according to an analysis published by Australia's Commonwealth Bank. Queensland's coal exports could take six months to fully recover from the effects of the extensive flooding, the bank said.
Moreover, the flooding in Queensland is expected to slow the growth of coking coal exports to 3% this year, down from previous forecasts of 10%, and keep total Australian exports of coking coal to 146 million mt in 2011.
"The impact on thermal coal markets is less dramatic. We estimate 3.6 million mt may be removed from Queensland thermal coal exports," the bank said.
The estimated loss of 3.6 million mt of thermal coal exports from Queensland is equivalent to 1% of the traded thermal coal market in 2010.
Goldman Sachs, in another report on the Queensland floods, said Brisbane is an exclusively thermal coal port with an estimated throughput in 2010 of 8 million mt.
Brisbane port staff are currently working with shipping agents and Maritime Safety Queensland "to ensure the most efficient scheduling of vessels over coming weeks once the port is reopened," the port said in its statement.
"The earliest possible movements of priority shipping in the port would be Sunday, 16 January," it said in a statement on its website. "Any ship movements will be...only allowed under strict conditions by time, area, currents, and channel conditions. Movements will also be subject to the channel being unobstructed by sunken debris or other navigational hazards." However, it added the floods that hit Queensland and Brisbane this week had not damaged any port infrastructure.
"Roads have remained open and our power supply is stable," it said. COAL EXPORTS
Disruption from this week's floods to ports and other operations are reckoned to have held back 14 million mt of coal from the seaborne-traded markets to date, according to an analysis published by Australia's Commonwealth Bank. Queensland's coal exports could take six months to fully recover from the effects of the extensive flooding, the bank said.
Moreover, the flooding in Queensland is expected to slow the growth of coking coal exports to 3% this year, down from previous forecasts of 10%, and keep total Australian exports of coking coal to 146 million mt in 2011.
"The impact on thermal coal markets is less dramatic. We estimate 3.6 million mt may be removed from Queensland thermal coal exports," the bank said.
The estimated loss of 3.6 million mt of thermal coal exports from Queensland is equivalent to 1% of the traded thermal coal market in 2010.
Goldman Sachs, in another report on the Queensland floods, said Brisbane is an exclusively thermal coal port with an estimated throughput in 2010 of 8 million mt.
Brisbane port staff are currently working with shipping agents and Maritime Safety Queensland "to ensure the most efficient scheduling of vessels over coming weeks once the port is reopened," the port said in its statement.