The Vancouver-based company said it exceeded its 6.2 million tonne forecast for Q4 coal sales and would not be materially impacted by one of Westshore’s two berths being offline.
Teck said it will use alternative shipping options throughout the duration of the repairs at Westshore, including securing additional capacity though Neptune Terminals, Pacific Coast Terminals, Thunder Bay Terminals and Ridley Terminals.
On the basis of Westshore’s estimated repair schedule for the collision-damaged Berth 1 and expected loading capacity for Berth 2, Teck expects to have total shipping capacity of 6Mt in the Q1 2013.
Teck said incremental demurrage and transportation costs due to the damage at Westshore were not expected to exceed $2 per tonne for Q1 2013.
Westshore’s Berth 1 was taken offline on December 7 after a coal carrier crashed into its trestle, leaving a hole about 100m long.
The berth can manage vessels up to 260,000t on a single, rail-mounted 7000t per hour ship-loader.
