Coal exports from Hampton Roads, Virginia, rose by 8pc in July amid high international demand for coal.

The terminals handled 2.46mn short tons (2.23mn metric tonnes) of coal last month, compared with 2.29mn st in July 2020, according to estimates from the Virginia Maritime Association. July loadings were slightly below the 2.49mn st handled in July 2019.

Increased demand for metallurgical coal has brought exports from the terminals to near pre-pandemic levels. The terminals handled 2.49mn st of coal in July 2019, just 1pc above last month.

July shipments were lower than June when the terminals handled 2.57mn st, the most in eight months.

Two of the three Hampton Roads’ coal terminals handled more coal than they did a year earlier. Eastern US railroad Norfolk Southern’s Lamberts Point terminal loaded 901,418st of coal for export last month, compared with 859,343st a year earlier. And loadings at Kinder Morgan’s Pier IX rose by 73pc to 509,916st, up from 294,851st in July 2020.

Dominion Terminal Associates (DTA), which is co-owned by Arch Resources and Alpha Metallurgical Resources, loaded 1.05mn st of coal, down by 7pc when compared with July 2020, when the terminal handled 1.13mn st of coal.

Through the first seven months of 2021, terminals at the port handled an estimated 16.5mn st of coal, just 10,313st below the same period last year.

Through the first seven months of the year, DTA handled 7.4mn st of coal, up by 5pc when compared with last year. Pier IX handed 3.1mn st, up by 34pc and Lamberts Point loadings fell by 16pc to 5.9mn st.

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