DBCT ship queue hits new high

27-Nov-2018

Ship queues off the Queensland port of Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal (DBCT) have blown out to a new record of 46 ships, with some vessels slated to wait for almost four weeks before being loaded with coal.

The queue is just above the 45 ships seen in December last year, when congestion at the port helped push premium hard coking coal prices up to $260/t fob Australia. The price is currently at $225/t, up from $173/t at the beginning of August. The ship queues at DBCT, which had eased slightly in the first half of this year, began to grow again in July and August. They have remained at around 40-45 ships for much of the past three months as the port has undergone maintenance.

The longer queues have pushed out waiting times at the port, with a vessel that arrived on 17 November not due to depart until 13 December. The extended waits are adding to demurrage costs for coal mining firms using DBCT.

The port appears to be loading within its normal range, with November throughput tracking at similar levels seen in October, according to analysis of the shipping data gathered by Argus. DBCT shipped 6mn t of coal in October, up from 5.85mn t September but down from 6.64mn t in October 2017, according to port data.

The blow out in ship queues this time last year was put down to over-allocation by miners using the port, ahead of the wet season in November-April. This appears to be the case again this year, with maintenance at two of DBCT’s berths adding to the congestion.

The 46 ships waiting to access DBCT are joined by a further nine ships waiting to access the adjacent port of Hay Point, which is owned by the world’s largest supplier of seaborne coking coal BHP Mitsubishi Alliance.

BHP warned that its shipments may be impacted this quarter by a longwall move at its Broadmeadow mine and shipments for November are tracking about 10pc behind those seen in October, according to initial shipping data. Hay Point shipped 4.12mn t of coking coal in October, in line with the 4.17mn t shipped in September and up from 2.95mn t in the same month last year when a major maintenance programme was undertaken.

Source: ARGUS MEDIA