Coal exports out of Hampton Roads, Virginia climbed by 15pc in July from a year earlier, despite slight declines in some seaborne coal markets.

Terminals in Hampton Roads loaded 3.24mn short tons (2.94mn metric tonnes) of coal last month, up from 2.81mn st in July 2023, according to the Virginia Maritime Association. In addition, the association tracked 46 coal vessels departing Hampton Roads during the month, compared with 38 vessels transporting coal in the same month last year.

Still, loadings continued to ease from April-May of this year, when terminals in Virginia were handling coal that was blocked from being exported from Baltimore because of a bridge collapse there in late March. July’s estimated Hampton Roads export coal loadings were 3.7pc lower than they had been in June and were off by 30pc from May’s 11-year high.

International spot coal demand for spot metallurgical and thermal coal was somewhat lackluster in July and prices were nearly flat with year-earlier levels. Argus‘ high-volatile type A coking coal assessment averaged $189.40/t fob Hampton Roads in July, compared with $190.88/t a year earlier. The average assessment also was lower than it had been in May and June.

The average for the mid-point of the high-low range for prompt two-month shipments of 6,000 kcal/kg thermal coal out of Hampton Roads was also little changed from the year prior, sliding by 10¢/t to $101.85/t fob last month. That was also down from $103.91/t in June. But the midpoint has climbed so far this month, tracking increases in European-delivered thermal coal prices in the first half of August and averaging about $10/t higher than in July.

Two of the three Hampton Roads terminals handled significantly more coal in July compared with the same month last year.

Norfolk Southern’s Lamberts Point terminal loaded 1.44mn st of coal, up by 29pc from July 2023, and exports at Kinder Morgan’s Pier IX increased by 39pc to 776,851st last month.

Dominion Terminal Associates, which is co-owned by Alpha Metallurgical Resources and Arch Resources, was the only terminal in the port to handle less coal than a year earlier, with exports falling by 10pc to 1.02mn st.

Hampton Roads exports may be slightly higher in August given a shiploader at CSX’s Curtis Bay terminal in Baltimore has been out of service since 11 August because of a mechanical issue. The company expects the repairs to take three to four weeks.

However, a market source said there has not been “much rerouting because of this disruption, primarily because of low demand for US coal from India and China at the moment.”

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