Port of Vancouver July coal exports drop 31.5% on month

Houston — Coal exports out of the Port of Vancouver fell to 1.99 million mt in July, down 31.5% from 2.9 million mt in June and 36.8% lower than the 3.14 million mt shipped out in the year-ago month, data from the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority showed.

The port, which includes Westshore Terminals and Neptune Bulk Terminals, shipped out 1.35 million mt of metallurgical coal in July, down 32.2% from the previous month and 30.1% lower year on year.

Thermal coal exports also fell to 605,685 mt in July, down 33.4% from June and 49.8% lower than the year-ago month.

The remaining 30,703 mt exported in July was unspecified coal, compared with 148 mt in June and 5,273 mt in the year-ago month.

Coal exports during January-July were down 9.1% from a year ago at 18.58 million mt. Metallurgical exports were at 12.16 million mt, down 16.3% from the first seven months of 2019, while thermal shipments were up 11.2% year on year at 6.26 million mt.

Westshore, which is the largest coal export terminal on the west coast in North America, takes coal from British Columbia and Alberta, as well as the Powder River Basin and Montana through Seattle as a port and rail transfer point. The Neptune terminal, which handles metallurgical coal, is currently going through expansions and was shut for five months through September.

In 2019, the Port of Vancouver shipped out 36.91 million mt of coal, down 1.8% from the prior year. Met coal shipments rose 2.9% on the year to 25.35 million mt in 2019, while thermal exports declined 11.6% to 11.2 million mt. Over half of the 2019 exports were shipped to Japan and South Korea, as 11.39 million mt went to South Korea and 9.14 million mt to Japan.