Newcastle port is a key for Australian coal exports, loading services have been disrupted in past weeks due to:
- strong winds over the past two weekends
- a rail maintenance shutdown on the line that services the port on 24-25 July
More here at the link, with reports of:
- terminals have now ramped up to full capacity
- There were 45 ships queuing outside Newcastle on July 26 (from 40 on 6 July and well above the average of 10)
- long shipping queues have more than doubled ship turnaround times to above 10 days from below five earlier this year, are adding to coal mining costs