Coal exports out of Hampton Roads, Virginia, rose to their highest level in more than five years in January despite headwinds in some markets.

Terminals in Hampton Roads loaded an estimated 3.45mn short tons (3.13mn metric tonnes) in January, according to the Virginia Maritime Association. That was the highest volume since October 2018 and a 25pc increase from exports in January 2023.

Coal export loadings out of Hampton Roads also were 4.9pc higher than in December 2023.

The higher exports may have reflected steady metallurgical coal prices and demand in some countries. Demand for thermal coal has continued to be somewhat restricted.

Ship tracking data from analytics firm Kpler suggests about 89pc of the coal loaded on to vessels leaving Hampton Roads export terminals last month was coking coal.

Appalachian coal producers with crossover type products are targeting metallurgical coal markets as thermal coal demand and prices have declined.

Last month, the midpoint for the high-low range of prompt two-month shipments of 6,000 kcal/kg thermal coal out of Hampton Roads averaged $102.08/t fob, according to Argus calculations, compared with $178.89/t in January 2023. The midpoint has continued to decline this month.

Some coking coal prices also are lower than they were a year earlier, but they still are more than double thermal coal markets. The monthly average for Argus’ assessment of high-volatile type A coking coal out of Hampton Roads was $266.43/t fob in January, down from $281.38/t a year earlier.

Pittsburgh Seam producer Consol Energy said last week that it expects most of its uncommitted volumes in 2024 to be exported, including 2mn-3mn st of crossover metallurgical coal.

All three of the Hampton Roads terminals loaded more coal in January than they had a year prior.

Norfolk Southern’s Lamberts Point terminal handled 1.51mn st of coal, up by 21pc from January 2023. At the same time, loadings at Dominion Terminal Associates, which is co-owned by Alpha Metallurgical Resources and Arch Resources, increased by 31pc to 1.16mn st while Kinder Morgan’s Pier IX loaded 776,851st of coal in January, up 27pc from a year earlier.

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