Australian port congestion burns coal companies
Coal-mining companies with operations in Australia stand to lose more than $950 million this year due to port congestion and the disruption to shipping caused by storms.
Storms last month hit operations at Newcastle, the world's largest coal-export port, and there have been on-going problems with congestion both at Newcastle and Dalrymple Bay.
Reports say that port congestion had intensified this year with scores of ships stuck outside the coal-export ports.
At its worst, congestion at Newcastle and Dalrymple Bay has seen queues of more than 50 vessels at each port.
Xstrata, which has mines in the Hunter Valley and Queensland's Bowen Basin, estimated that New South Wales mining companies were paying about $1 million a day in penalties for idling ships, otherwise known as demurrage.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in March authorized the reinstatement of a system to allocate Newcastle port capacity among coal companies in an effort to reduce congestion at the port.
The ACCC took the step after calculating that demurrage at Newcastle alone could reach $460 million this year.
This system was cutting delays but the recent storm, which grounded the Pasha Bulker outside Newcastle, brought fresh congestion.
Meanwhile at Dalrymple Bay a system has been put in place to cut ship queues and share capacity, but rail bottlenecks continue to cause problems.
Storms last month hit operations at Newcastle, the world's largest coal-export port, and there have been on-going problems with congestion both at Newcastle and Dalrymple Bay.
Reports say that port congestion had intensified this year with scores of ships stuck outside the coal-export ports.
At its worst, congestion at Newcastle and Dalrymple Bay has seen queues of more than 50 vessels at each port.
Xstrata, which has mines in the Hunter Valley and Queensland's Bowen Basin, estimated that New South Wales mining companies were paying about $1 million a day in penalties for idling ships, otherwise known as demurrage.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in March authorized the reinstatement of a system to allocate Newcastle port capacity among coal companies in an effort to reduce congestion at the port.
The ACCC took the step after calculating that demurrage at Newcastle alone could reach $460 million this year.
This system was cutting delays but the recent storm, which grounded the Pasha Bulker outside Newcastle, brought fresh congestion.
Meanwhile at Dalrymple Bay a system has been put in place to cut ship queues and share capacity, but rail bottlenecks continue to cause problems.