Coal exports out of Hampton Roads, Virginia rose in April from year-earlier levels as shippers diverted volumes from Baltimore, Maryland,after a major bridge collapse there partially shut down harbor traffic.

Hampton Roads’ terminals handled an estimated 3.56mn short tons (3.23mn metric tonnes) of coal during the month, up by 31pc from April 2023, the Virginia Maritime Association said today.

The year-on-year increase last month at least partly reflects effects from the closing of most of the Port of Baltimore, which started on 26 March after a cargo ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge and caused the bridge to collapse. Railroads Norfolk Southern (NS) and CSX have reported transporting products initially intended for export out of Baltimore to ports in Virginia.

The association did not estimate how much coal initially intended to move out of Baltimore went through Hampton Roads last month. Consol Energy said on 7 May it expects to ship 600,000-800,000st/month through ports in Virginia while Baltimore is closed to most vessel traffic. Other coal producers including Arch Resources, Alliance Resource Partners and Blackhawk also have been using alternative ports to move export volumes.

April loadings at NS’ Lambert’s Point terminal in Hampton Roadsjumped by 80pc to 1.75mn st in April from a year earlier. The last time that terminal handled more coal was in March 2018, Virginia Maritime Association data show.

NS said on 3 April that its first diverted shipment from Baltimore, was “successfully transported” that day.

Export coal loadings at Kinder Morgan’s Pier IX also jumped, rising to 817,621st in April from 606,563st a year earlier.

But shipments out of Dominion Terminal Associates (DTA), which is co-owned by coal producers Alpha Metallurgical Resources and Arch Resources, declined by 12pc to 998,295st in April from a year earlier as the terminal completed a planned week-long outage for ship loader maintenance last month.

The decrease in DTA’s April loadings contributed to overall Hampton Roads’ coal export volumes lagging March’s 3.87mn st, which was a 43-month high.

DTA has another week-long outage planned for this month as part of its ongoing efforts to upgrade facilities. That likely will weigh on the terminal’s May throughput volumes, Alpha said earlier this month, but Alpha has the ability to use other east coast terminals to ship its coal.

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