Newcastle Coal Miners Seek Shipping Capacity Increase to 153 Million Tons

Coal producers that ship from Australia’s Newcastle port, the world’s biggest harbor for power-station fuel, are seeking a 35 percent increase in export capacity by 2014, according to a terminal operator.
Coal companies want shipping capacity to rise to 153 million metric tons a year from 113 million tons now, Port Waratah Coal Services Ltd. said in an e-mailed statement today. Documentation on the development of an additional terminal will be submitted to the New South Wales government “in coming days,” Port Waratah said.
Xstrata Plc, BHP Billiton Ltd. and Anglo American Plc are among mining companies that ship the fuel from the harbor, which has three export terminals. Coal imports by China are forecast to increase by 80 million tons in the next three years, according to an Oct. 19 note from Deutsche Bank AG. China shipped in 125.8 million tons of the fuel last year, customs figures show.
Port Waratah, operator of two of the terminals, in February approved a A$670 million ($642 million) expansion that will take its capacity to 133 million tons by the end of 2011. Studies are underway to raise capacity to 145 million tons by the end of 2012, the company said today.
Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group, partly owned by BHP Billiton, operates the third terminal, which has a capacity of 30 million tons.