Coal exports dominate Gladstone tonnage record

Coal exports to Asia increased by 4.5 million tonnes owing to strong increases in the Chinese and Indian markets which helped offset a decline in exports to the Korean (down 2.6 million tonnes) and Taiwanese (down 1.2 million tonnes) markets.

For the second year in a row Gladstone crested 80 million tonnes, reaching more than 83.3 million tonnes in 2009-10 thanks to a 7.51% increase in coal shipments to 60,590,520 tonnes - or 72.4% of the port’s total throughput.

Gladstone says this happened even though coal exports were constrained by rail restrictions and the global economic downturn in many traditional coal markets.

Asian countries accounted for 92.1% of total coal exported, with Japan remaining the number one importer of coal, capturing 37% of coal exports. European markets recorded a small decrease in imports of coal.

GPC said the RG Tanna Coal Terminal continued to prosper in 2009-10 with record shipments of 55.6 million tonnes, representing 66.7% of total port throughput.

The corporation also highlighted alumina industry shipments, which represented 22.4% of Gladstone’s throughput.

GPC chief executive officer Leo Zussiona said the port is already seeing a significant increase in throughput in the current financial year.