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