Coal exports from Ridley Terminals Inc. in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, totaled 607,000 tonnes in September, down 19.7% from 755,570 tonnes in August and the lowest since 598,600 tonnes exported in February, according to data from the Prince Rupert Port Authority released Oct. 16.

The total, which combines metallurgical and thermal coal, was down 27.2% from 833,584 tonnes exported in September 2017.

For the first nine months of 2018, 5.9 million tonnes of coal was shipped out of the terminal, up 33.6% from 4.4 million tonnes in the same period a year ago and the highest for the corresponding time period since 8.2 million tonnes in 2013.

Metallurgical coal exports from the terminal totaled 429,159 tonnes in September, down 27.6% from August and 35.8% from September 2017

For the year so far, metallurgical coal exports totaled 4.3 million tonnes, up 42.4% from 3.1 million tonnes in the same period a year ago and the highest since 2013.

Thermal coal exports in September totaled 177,841 tonnes, up 9% from 163,209 tonnes in August and up 7.8% from 164,992 tonnes in the year-ago month. It was the highest monthly total for September since 2015, when 243,769 tonnes were shipped out.

For the year, thermal exports totaled 1.6 million tonnes, up 13.9% from 1.4 million tonnes in the same period of 2017.

The terminal, the closest major North American coal export terminal to Asia, is served by Canadian National railroad. The largest customer is Conuma Coal Resources Ltd., a metallurgical coal producer in British Columbia.

Tyler Godwin is a reporter for S&P Global Platts, which, like S&P Global Market Intelligence, is owned by S&P Global Inc.