Capesize - Tubarao / Qingdao being fixed at strong US$ 29.75 PMT

Friday,Oct21, 2011

Handy
The Atlantic market is quite steady, and market seems to be around the same levels as last week. Fewer fixtures reported though. Fronthauls still around 25k, with a USD 3-4k premium for vessels willing to go through Aden. USG/Skaw fixing around USD 30k, and Skaw/USG concluded in the USD 8k range. The Pacific market remains firm with considerable cargoes seen from Indonesia. For Indo-India, large eco Supra can fetch close to USD 16k for S. China position and NOPAC RV close to USD 14k. Indian iron ore market bit quiet as not many cargoes seen in the market however rates from WCI fixing around USD 12k for WCI-China and 11k for ECI-China. RBCT India round rates around USD 13k. Red Sea fertilizers to India are fixed around mid 20s. Short period rates are around 15k for large Supras but seeing less takers.

Panamax
After two strong weeks and a quiet opening due to activity in CoalTrans in Madrid, the Continent and North Atlantic is still tight for tonnage for prompt loaders. There are less fresh requirements so market seems more in balance including some toppish signs in the USG and in ECSA.TA rounds generally at 18k, trip out 27k. In the Pacific the market is also more quiet after stronger levels above mid teens both for NOPAC grains and Indonesian coal. Some period fixtures are still in the 14 range for short period, but less activity on the longer deals. Decline in Chinese iron ore imports and steel production is adding fuel to the bearish signs and the FFA market is loosing faith in next year as well gradually.

Capesize
A large share of the decision makers were gathered in Madrid at the beginning of the week, resulting in less activity. However towards the end of the week, activity picked up and rates improved. It is mainly the front haul market being the main driver, with Tubarao /Qingdao being fixed at strong USD 29.75 pmt for first half November dates. West Australia round remain around steady USD 12 pmt despite lack of requirements from the big three. Period and short period markets have been inactive, whit takers following closely but generally rating touch below owners ideas.

source FearnBulk

Mercator to boost Indonesia coal output

Wed Mar 9, 2011 9:12am GMT

* Mercator traded 4 million tonnes Indonesian coal in 2010
* Oorja mine reaches 1.5 million tonnes output
* New high quality coal mine will add 2 million tonnes

NEW DELHI, March 9 (Reuters) - India's Mercator Lines Ltd (MRCT.BO: Quote) is to boost its Indonesian coal production to 3.5 million tonnes a year with a new mine, a Mercator executive said on Wednesday.

Speaking on the sidelines of a Coaltrans conference in New Delhi, he said Mercator's Ooorja mine in Petangis, East Kalimantan had also grown its output to 1.5 million tonnes a year of 5,400 GAD coal, which is largely shipped to India.

"We traded 4 million tonnes of Indonesian coal last year including our own mine production, the rest we bought from smaller players," the Mercator executive said.

"We mostly sell to traders who then export, only about 30 percent of our output is sold directly to Indian end-users," he said.

The new mine will begin operations this year and produce 2 million tonnes a year of 6,000 GAD coal.

The mine has 40 million tonnes of reserves, he added.

Mercator, India's second-largest private shipping firm, diversified into coal mining four years ago.

"The quality of coal we are producing is ideal for the Indian market but the new mine has higher quality coal, which could go to India or elsewhere in Asia," he said.

Mercator has mostly shipped in 50,000 tonne vessels but because it is one of the world's largest owners of gear grabber panamax vessels the company plans to graduate to panamax loading.

"This gives us a freight advantage with costs," he said.

(Reporting by Jackie Cowhig; Editing by Alison Birrane,sourced Thomson Reuters)

Update Coaltrans India, New Indonesian coal regions seen as a ‘good fit’ for India

Tue, Mar08, 2011 By Creamer Media Reporter

PERTH (mining weekly. com) − Emerging coal supply areas in Indonesia would be instrumental to meeting rapidly growing coal demand from India, research firm Wood Mackenzie said on Tuesday.

Coal research analyst Rohan Kendall said at the Coaltrans India conference that Indonesia would account for 40% of growth in seaborne thermal coal supply over the next ten years, with the emerging coal areas of the South Sumatra basin and Wahau coalfield making an important contribution to this growth.

“There is $8-billion of infrastructure projects in the pipeline in these emerging areas that will support export growth,” Kendall said.

Emerging coal regions were a “good fit” for developing economies, such as India. These areas were experiencing upstream investment as Indian power generators such as Reliance and Adani looked to secure coal supplies for new power stations.

He noted that there were currently several ultramega power plants being built in India with a capacity of over 4 000 MW each, and still more were planned. The projects currently in development were similar in capacity to those in China and were expected to be operational between the second half of 2011 and 2014.

“Coal production costs are low in emerging basins in Indonesia, which is why they are attractive to Indian power generators. The costs of investing upstream to secure coal requirements are much lower than Indian power generators would otherwise pay if they were to purchase all of their coal on the seaborne market.

“Also, for power stations that are being built on the coast, it is more realistic to seek seaborne supplies which do not depend on India’s rail network for transport,” he added.

The research firm noted that in order for emerging thermal coal supply areas to fulfill their potential, infrastructure challenges needed to be overcome.

“There is currently insufficient infrastructure in these areas to support large scale coal exports. There are numerous projects proposed which combined would add 140-million tons a year of capacity. We believe that some of these are unlikely to progress given regulatory challenges.”

Edited by: Mariaan Webb