thanks xanax - agree - looks primed for a bounce back. And here I was thinking 16.5c was the floor!
More news, FWIW:
Colombia ports improving coking coal vessel options, as efficiency key
(Platts)--26 Jun 2012 - 325 pm EDT/1925 GMT
Colombia's main ports for coking coal and coke exports are taking steps to be able to load larger vessels in a bid to maximize competitiveness, as exports to Europe and Asia become tougher due to lower global prices for the commodities, local industry sources said Tuesday.
At the Pacific port of Buenaventura, Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau recently loaded a 48,000 mt vessel with coking coal, Felipe de la Vega, director of Colombian diversified commodities trader Trenaco, said at the Coaltrans Brazil conference in Rio de Janeiro. Gerdau is understood to buy coking coal internally through a local unit and previously the port had only been able to load smaller vessels.
Buenaventura's loading capacity is being improved by increasing the draft, he said. A project to take the draft to 30 meters will allow Panamaxes to be loaded in the future, he said.
"Cartagena and Buenaventura are the most competitive ports for coking coal currently," de la Vega told delegates.
Buenaventura handles 75% of Colombia's coking coal exports, as material is trucked to the port from central regions such as Boyaca and Santander, he said. The northern ports are long exporters of thermal coal to Europe and also now to Asia.
Barranquilla had been handling more met coke through 25,000 dwt-type handy vessels rather than coking coal for buyers in Brazil and Europe, though demand for Colombian met coke, at prices of $300/mt FOB and above, has been weaker.
Market sources at the conference said Colombian mid-vol coking coal is being offered at around $150-155/mt FOB with freight to China quoted at around $38/mt, while US coal traders are accepting lower CFR prices for their blends.
Colombian coking coals are generally sold as mid-vol blends, as there is not enough low-vol and other mid and high-vol coals to make large cargoes of one type, Jairo Caicedo of consultancy JCL Resources and former London Mining executive said at the event.
The industry veteran's presentation showed high ash and sulfur low-vol coal with a FSI score of 5-7 is being combined with mid- and high-vols to optimize coking specifications to a 27-28% VM, 6.5-8 FSI with lower ash and sulfur product.
There is potential to load Capesizes in Bahia Cupica, Bahia Solano, Golfode Tribuga and Bahia Malaga on the Pacific Coast, said Maria Cecilia Ruisec, commercial director of Colombian miner Frontier Coal.
She told delegates at the Rio event that Panamaxes will soon load coking coal from the Caribbean port of Cartagena, and discussed other logistics projects such as improving barging capacity on the Magdalena river. Synergies with the local oil industry, so that dry bulk vessels can bunker while loading coal, should be explored further to aid competitiveness, she added.
Colombian coal and port sector delegates are optimistic that a recent accord between Colombia and China to increase coal exports to Asia's biggest economy through joint developments may speed initiatives such as the billion-dollar Carare project to rail coking coal to the northern ports.
"China will have a lot of demand for Colombian coal, so we need to develop big and interesting infrastructure," rather than have multiple small port projects compete with each other, de la Vega said.
Trenaco is working on becoming a port operator in Buenaventura in order to add to its stockpiles of coking coal and nut coke for ferroalloy producers. The trucking cost is lower than taking material to the Atlantic Coast ports, aiding the investment's appeal, according to de la Vega.
