Macarthur Coal appears to have managed to avoid any damage to its coal exporting target despite a 10 day break because of cyclone damage at the Dalrymple Bay terminal in central North Queensland.
But the news will only have a limited impact on world spot coal prices which have spiked on the damage to Dalrymple Bay and flooding in some central Queensland mines this month.
Macarthur lifted the force majeure declaration (announced on March 19) after rail services to the terminal from mines in central Queensland resumed at the weekend.
The disruption to rail and port services came from cyclone Ului which affected the Queensland coast the weekend before last.
Despite the force break, Macarthur re-confirmed its full year coal sales forecast of 4.8 million tonnes to 5 million tonnes in the year to June.
Macarthur is the world’s largest seaborne producer of pulverized injection coal (PCI) for steelmaking.
Macarthur, which declared force majeure on shipments on March 19, said its full year sales forecast range of 4.8-5 million tonnes remained unchanged, despite the recent weather-related disruptions.
BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest coking coal exporter, declared force majeure on its shipments last week and said its key coal port would take between three to six weeks to resume full operations.
That helped boost world spot prices for hard coking coal to around $US240 a tonne, up from the $US200 a tonne BHP agreed to in contracts with Japanese steel mills and other buyers in Europe for the three months starting April 1.
The Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal, which has an annual capacity of 85 million tonnes per year, was shut for about four days last week due to rough weather conditions caused by a cyclone.
Coal exports over the Blackwater and Goonyella rail lines, which transport coal to and from the mines owned by Macarthur, BHP Mitsubishi Alliance and Ensham Resources, were also halted.
The news saw Macarthur shares jump almost 3%, or 34c to $12.04.
