Coal exports out of Hampton Roads, Virginia, declined to a 10-month low in November because of a major railroad disruption and muted international coal markets.
Terminals at the port loaded nearly 2.21mn short tons (2mn metric tonnes) of coal last month, a 32pc drop from the loadings in November 2024, the Virginia Maritime Association estimated on Tuesday. Coal exports also fell sharply from the 3.19mn st shipped out of Hampton Roads in October.
November coal loadings were the lowest at the port since February. And since April, Hampton Roads coal exports have trailed year-earlier levels every month, excluding October.
Between January-November, Hampton Roads terminals exported a combined 31.6mn st of coal, down 18pc from the same period last year.
Some of the coal exports out of Hampton Roads were temporarily hindered after a train carrying coal on CSX's Penisula subdivision derailed near Province Forge, Virginia — the railroad's only way into and out of the port — in late October. On 27 October, two days after the incident, CSX issued a force majeure notice to Dominion Terminal Associates (DTA), which is co-owned by US coal producers Alpha Metallurgical Resources and Core Natural Resources, and to Kinder Morgan's Pier IX.
CSX resumed moving trains to and from the two terminals on 6 November. Alpha said it was able to fulfill some shipments from the existing stockpiles at DTA while the rail line had been blocked.
Still, DTA exported an estimated 829,643st of coal last month, a 21pc decline from a year earlier. And exports from Pier IX made up the greatest volume decrease at the port last month, loading 353,704st of coal onto vessels, which was less than half of the 846,760st shipped in November 2024.
In addition, coal loadings at Norfolk Southern's Lamberts Point terminal dropped to 1.02mn st in November, a 24pc decrease from the same month last year, according to the Virginia Maritime Association.
The vast majority of coal shipped out of Hampton Roads is metallurgical, and unfavorable pricing and demand in seaborne coking coal markets also weighed on overall exports at the port last month. The monthly average for Argus' assessment of high-volatile type A metallurgical coal dropped to $148.19/t fob Hampton Roads in November, down from $186.84/t a year earlier.
Some export thermal coal markets also continued to lag year-earlier levels. The midpoint of the high-low range for Argus' 6,000 kcal/kg steam coal out of Hampton Roads averaged $103.67/t fob, declining from $112.29/t the previous year.
