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Coal loadings at the NSW port totalled 9.6 million tonnes in September compared to 8.3Mt loaded in August.
The number of vessels loaded also increased 17%, from 90 ships in August to 105 ships in September.
Average shipload tonnage has wavered only slightly in recent months.
The increase in Newport traffic has resulted from a 43% boost in China’s slice of Port Waratah’s outgoing coal.
Coal shipped from the port to China increased from 935,000t in August to 1.55Mt last month.
This increase in Chinese demand has coincided with an uptick in Australian higher ash thermal coal, which Platts charted as $74-75 per tonne free-on-board in September compared to $70 per tonne FOB loaded in August.
Newcastle coal exports, however, are still dominated by the Japanese market, which accounted for 57% of the port’s shipments in August and 54% in September.
Japan imported 5.1Mt of coal from the port last month.
Exports by coal type have remained relatively consistent, with 84% thermal and 16% coking coal leaving Newcastle in September, compared to 89% thermal and 11% coking coal being exported in August.
