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Coal exports from Australia’s Gladstone port hit 22-month high in Oct

Coal shipments from the Port of Gladstone in Australia rose to a 22-month high in October on a strong lift in exports bound for India and South Korea, data released by the Gladstone Ports Corporation on Tuesday showed. A total of 6.69 million mt of coal was shipped from the Queensland port in October, up 10% year on year and 16% from September, the data showed. About 70% of the coal handled at Gladstone is metallurgical coal, GPC said.

Glencore-led Australian coal port eyes $3 billion debt rejig

Mining giant Glencore and its partners are proposing to repay part of $3 billion owed on the world’s most expensive coal terminal, two lenders familiar with the matter said, in a bid to stave off a rapidly approaching deadline for full repayment. If the refinancing fails to go ahead by next September, loan terms require Glencore and four remaining partners in Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal (WICET) on Australia’s east coast to pay off the full amount over the following decade. WICET first proposed the restructuring to the lenders’ representative, McGrathNicol, last week, according to the people, who have knowledge of the financing talks but declined to be identified because negotiations were confidential. Regular meetings will continue until a deal can be struck, they said. A specific target of sustainable and tax-effective debt has yet to be decided, the lenders said. However, the proposal does not involve a haircut on the senior debt, nor would it release the coal miners from the port’s expensive handling charge and cost recovery commitments. “There’s a level of debt that this type of asset can sustain,” one of the lenders told Reuters. “So the idea is to repay it to a tax-effective level and then refinance the rest on commercial terms.” WICET was a boom-time port plan agreed in 2009 and completed late last year at Gladstone to service a consortium of eight Bowen Basin coal producers.

Australian coking coal trains start slow roll to port

The first coal train from an Australian mining area devastated by a cyclone reached port in the northern state of Queensland on Tuesday, sparking a race by major miners including BHP Billiton to secure spare capacity on the only operating line. The reopening of the Blackwater line will allow Australian mines to start replenishing world coking coal supplies, with Thomson Reuters Eikon data showing 38 bulk cargo ships at anchor near Gladstone, most of them waiting to load coal. Coking coal prices in China spiked last week on news of the disruption, but have since eased on a fall in local steel prices and as a resumption of shipments nears. Just before 8 a.m. local time (2200 GMT) the first coal train arrived at Gladstone port for loading on the Aqua Bonanza, which will head for China on Wednesday, said shipping agent John Parks. Rail operator Aurizon said trains are running at reduced speeds. http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/australian-coking-coal-trains-start-slow-roll-to-port/