RBCT exports up 20,6% this year
Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) saw a 20.6% year-on-year (y/y) rise in tonnage shipped to 6.2m tons (Mt) after a 20% y/y gain in March to 7.5Mt. In February's RBCT's exports declined by 10.4% y/y decline to 5.5Mt while in January, exports were just 4.2Mt.
Last year RBCT shipped a total of 68.3Mt‚ a 4.3% increase on 2011's volume. The increase in the first quarter was only 2.2% y/y‚ but this improved to a 6.5% y/y gain in the first four months of this year.
RBCT currently has a capacity to export 91Mt a year and in October will decide whether to expand its capacity to 110Mt in the sixth expansion at the port. The annualised coal export rate in March 2013 was 88.19Mt‚ but this slipped to 75.93MT in April.
Coal exports from RBCT in October 2011 reached a record of 7.381Mt or an annualised 88.6Mt.
State-owned freight and logistics group Transnet is aiming to increase coal freight to the terminal from 68Mt a year to 97.5Mt a year over the next few years as it invests in more rolling stock.