A sharp decline in the number of ships queuing to get into Australia's Newcastle coal port has triggered speculation that Japanese coal buyers are sending fewer ships to load coal in the wake of the country's shattering earthquake in March. Only nine ships were sitting in the vessel queue for Port Waratah Coal Services's two coal terminals at Newcastle April 19. At end-February there were 30 ships. The single-figure vessel queue is in stark contrast to April last year, when Newcastle coal exporters were struggling to keep up with a queue that averaged 50 ships over the month.
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