Coal exports out of Hampton Roads, Virginia, extended gains from a year earlier in December despite reduced shipments from two of the three coal terminals at the port.

Terminals loaded a combined 3.34mn short tons (3.03mn metric tonnes) of coal last month, up from 3.29mn st in December 2023, according to the Virginia Maritime Association. December was the 17th consecutive month the port’s coal exports surpassed year-earlier levels.

The increase was entirely at Kinder Morgan’s Pier IX terminal, where coal export loadings climbed to 953,837st last month from 510,521st in December 2023. The last time the facility handled more coal in a one-month period was in May, when exporters were still diverting some volumes from the Port of Baltimore in Maryland to terminals in Virginia as workers continued to clear wreckage from the 26 March collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Kinder Morgan did not respond to a request for comment on why Pier IX loadings in December were 87pc above year-earlier levels.

Exports out of Hampton Roads’ two other coal terminals fell last month when compared with December 2023. Norfolk Southern’s Lambert’s Point terminal shipped 1.34mn st of coal, down by 8.2pc from the same period in 2023, and loadings at the Dominion Terminal Associates facility, which is co-owned by Alpha Metallurgical Resources and the newly formed Core Natural Resources, fell by 21pc on the year to 1.04mn st last month.

Export opportunities for metallurgical coal shipments remained relatively lackluster at the end of 2024, with some buyers in Europe and northeast Asia having elevated supply because of lower-than-expected steel production. With the scant spot demand, prices for prompt shipments of US high-volatile type A coking coal dropped to an average $180.50/metric tonne fob Hampton Roads in December from $263.16/t a year earlier. The average price also was lower than October and November 2024.

Seaborne thermal coal prices were slightly more robust last month when compared with a year earlier. The midpoint of the high-low range for prompt two-month shipments of 6,000 kcal/kg steam coal out of Hampton Roads averaged $110.36/t fob. In December 2023, the midpoint had averaged $105.63/t.

The vast majority of coal that is shipped out of Hampton Roads is metallurgical, though thermal coal gained some share in much of 2024. From January-November 2024, coking coal accounted for just under 79pc of coal exports out of the US Census Bureau’s Norfolk, Virginia, district, compared with 83pc in the same period of 2023 and 86pc in January-November 2022, according to the US Commerce Department. The Commerce Department is scheduled to release December 2024 data on 5 February.

Hampton Roads coal exports for all of last year climbed to 41.8mn st from 35.5mn st in 2023, with the greatest year on year gains registered over March, April and May, at least partly coinciding with the Port of Baltimore being closed to most export and import activity.

All three Hampton Roads’ coal terminals loaded more coal last year than in 2023.

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