Don't send coal to Newcastle

摘要

Severe congestion problems at the world's biggest coal shipping port, Newcastle in Australia, look set to constrain the country's coal exports for at least another two years. BHP Billiton Ltd, Rio Tinto Ltd, and other mining companies have expanded operations to keep up with rising Chinese and Indian coal demand, overstretching the capacity of Australia's Newcastle port by almost 10 mtpa as it battles with bad weather and congestion. Rail capacity from mines to the port was insufficient, industry sources said, with some miners having sought more loading allocations than needed, or overestimating their ability to ship coal to the port by rail.