Canada's Ridley Terminals November coal exports climb 13.5% on month

Coal exports from Ridley Terminals in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, totaled 611,247 mt in November, up 13.5% from a nine-month low 538,486 mt in October and the highest shipped out in the month of November since 1.39 million mt in 2012, according to data from the Prince Rupert Port Authority released Monday. 

The total, which combines metallurgical and thermal coal, was up 1.6% from 601,385 mt exported in the year-ago month. For the first 11 months of the year, 7.05 million mt of coal has been shipped out of the terminal, up 28.2% from 5.5 million mt in the same period a year ago and the highest for the corresponding time period since 9.59 million mt in 2013. 

Met coal exports from the terminal totaled 524,068 mt in November, up 79.1% from October and 19.8% higher than the year-ago month. It was the highest monthly total for met exports in November since 1.07 million st was exported in November 2012. 

For the year so far, met coal exports total 5.16 million mt, up 38.5% from 3.72 million mt in the same period a year ago and the highest since 2013. 

Thermal coal exports in November totaled an eight-month low 87,179 mt, down 64.5% from 245,916 mt in October and 46.9% lower than the year-ago month. It was the second-lowest monthly total in the last 17 months, only behind 77,416 mt in March. 

For the year, thermal exports totaled 1.89 million mt, up 6.6% from 1.77 million mt in the same period last year. 

The terminal, the closest major North American coal export terminal to Asia, is served by Canadian National railroad. The largest customer is Conuma Coal Resources, a met coal producer in British Columbia.