CANBERRA: Several ships anchored off Port Kembla coal terminal in eastern Australia have been asked by the port’s harbor master to sail further out to sea as a precautionary measure due to rough weather in the region, a source close to the coal shipping facility said Friday.
Coal export operations at the terminal located 70 km south of Sydney in the Australian state of New South Wales were currently not affected by strong winds and high sea swells, the source said. “Operations at Port Kembla coal terminal continue and are not impacted by rough weather conditions,” said the market source.
Port Kembla terminal’s offshore anchorage for ships will stay shut until the rough weather passes this weekend, and anchored ships have been told to move 12 nautical miles off the Australian coast. Three ships were listed in Port Kembla’s vessel queue on Thursday with the terminal’s coal stockpile at 514,000 mt, said the company website.
The ships were waiting in queue ready to load coal from the terminal’s shippers who include Glencore, the BHP Billiton spin-off company South32, Centennial Coal and Wollongong Coal. “The Harbor Master at Port Kembla has advised some ships at anchor are being directed to move 12 nautical miles off the Illawarra coast,” said a source close to the terminal.
In the 11-month period ended this week the terminal has shipped 11.4 million mt of mostly coking coal, said the company on its website.Australia’s bureau of meteorology said Friday in a severe weather warning for the Illawarra coast of New South Wales that “damaging winds averaging 55 to 65 km/h with gusts of 90 km/h are forecast.
