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Interesting discussion on this topic on the WPL board actually, on the "oil bulls" thread.

Suffice to say, this article deals with the US coal industry which is obviously under threat. But the Chinese and particularly the Indians, to say nothing of the emerging African economies, bear no resemblance to the situation in the US. The US has a fully established shale industry with all the associated infrastructure sitting almost directly underneath its target markets. India... doesn't. They will need coal for a long time to come.

The US is not a major coal exporter either and is unlikely to start (uncompetitive) so this won't affect the seaborne coal trade any time soon.