Shipments of coal from Australia's Port Kembla Coal Terminal in January stood at 305,851 mt, 

down  by 29% year on year and 37% lower from December, data released by the operator of 

the terminal on Thursday showed. 

PKCT  has been  at  odds  with its staff recently, locking out union workers in January. PKCT 

was unavailable for comment on the impact, if any, this had on exports. 

The terminal's operations manager John Gorman was quoted by the Australian Broadcasting 

Corporation on  January  17 saying that the lockout was done to avoid further union-ordered 

work stoppages as the company was facing a slump in coal exports. "Coal exports have been 

declining here for many years," he said. 

"At  its  peak, we were exporting 14.4 million mt of coal through this facility. This year, we are 

expecting  to  do  5  million mt. So, we are almost at a third of what we were at," he added. In 

2017, PKCT  shipped 5.45 million mt of coal. Volumes shipped out through the terminal have 

been impacted in recent months due to a production suspension at South32's Appin Colliery 

from June-October. The mine is not expected to return to its usual two longwall configuration 

until October-December. Wollongong Coal halted operations at its Wongawilli colliery in May 

due to the mining contractor entering into voluntary administration. 

Earlier  this  week, Wollongong Coal said in its quarterly report that saleable  coal production 

from Wongawilli rose from just 3,513 mt in the July-September quarter last year to 30,431 mt 

in  the  October-December  period.  The  mine  produced  121,648  mt of saleable coal in the 

January-March 2017 quarter, prior to the issue with the contractor. 

On Thursday, port stocks at PKCT stood at 192,893 mt, up 6% on the month. There was one 

vessel in queue and one assembled, data from the operator showed.