Eleven coal-laden ships departed from Baltimore in the week ended March 21, up from six from a week earlier, according to cFlow, Platts’ trade flow software.

The total dead-weight tonnage of the departures was 842,940 dwt, up from 608,954 dwt in the prior week, according to the data.

Six of the coal carriers remained in the Americas, with two traveling to Tubarão, Brazil, with estimated arrival dates of April 5 and April 6, while two are headed to Florida, with one expected to reach Fort Lauderdale and one to reach Jacksonville on March 23. One ship is scheduled to arrive at Point Lisas, Trinidad and Tobago, on March 24, and another at Punta Catalina, Dominican Republic, on March 25.

The remaining five coal carriers are headed to Europe, with two scheduled to make it to Gibraltar on March 28 and March 30, and one to Emden, Germany, on March 26. The final ships are estimated to arrive in Valletta, Malta, on April 3 and Nemrut, Turkey, on April 10.

In the next week, 11 coal ships are expected to arrive in Baltimore by March 28, down from 12 a week earlier, according to the cFlow data.

Six of the expected coal carriers are unladen, and five are laden. In the prior week, nine were unladen, and three were laden.

S&P Global Platts assessed FOB Baltimore 6,900 kcal/kg NAR 3% sulfur coal, for 15-60 day loading, at $69.15/mt on March 22, up 75 cents from March 19.

In 2020, Baltimore shipped out a four-year low 14.67 million mt of coal, down from 18.93 million mt in 2019, according to US Census Bureau data.

Over 62.9%, or 9.23 million mt, of the coal shipped out of Baltimore, the second-largest coal-exporting port in the US after Norfolk, Virginia, was bituminous coal. The remaining 37.1% was metallurgical coal. It was the largest share for thermal exports in over nine years.

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