Perth (Platts)--11Feb2013/507 am EST/1007 GMT

A weekend strike by train workers caused the cancellation of about 500,000 mt of coal railings to Newcastle port in the Australian state of New South Wales, Port Waratah Coal Services said Monday.

"The impact across the coal chain was about 500,000 mt and we had about four-fifths of that," PWCS spokesman Paul Chamberlin said by telephone. PWCS operates two of the three coal terminals at Newcastle port.

Train operator Pacific National's Australian parent company Asciano had forecast Friday that the 48-hour strike by its unionized workers on the two busiest days of the week could disrupt 600,000 mt of coal railings.

The strike ended as planned at midday Sunday.

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The third port terminal, operated by Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group, has a larger capacity to stockpile coal exports.

"We maintain our stockpiles as part of our standard practice and our ship-loading operations carried on as normal [during the strike]," a NCIG spokesman said Monday. NCIG, which is operated by coal producers BHP Billiton, Centennial Coal, Peabody Energy, Whitehaven Coal and Yancoal Australia, declined to disclose the volume of its coal stockpiles at the port.

Combined coal stocks at PWCS' terminals had shrunk to 635,000 mt Sunday from 1 million mt a week earlier, Hunter Valley Coal Chain Coordinator data showed Monday.

The impact on railings to Port Kembla coal terminal, the fourth-largest in New South Wales located 150 miles south of Newcastle, was uncertain.

Calls to the port's operator were not returned. The port on its website said it had received 27,000 mt of coal by rail in the preceding 24 hours, and that its stocks for shiploading stood at 185,000 mt Sunday, lower than its optimal stockpile capacity of 600,000 mt.

New South Wales coal producers had expected to rail 2.72 million mt of coal cargo to Newcastle in the seven days to Sunday, the HVCCC said in a report released Monday.

"Planned rates [of coal delivery] were 439,000 mt below target, while actual inbound performance was 317,000 mt below the HVCCC declared inbound throughput," said the HVCCC, which receives coal from 40 mines in the state.

Both figures were for the full week including the 48-hour strike period.

A spokeswoman for Pacific National's parent Asciano confirmed Monday the striking staff had returned to work as planned at midday Sunday.

"We are focused now on getting our train services back to normal," she said, adding the company had not been advised of any further industrial action by the Rail, Tram and Bus Union.

Union officials did not respond Monday to Platts inquiries.

The union had last week said its members were seeking a 7-9% pay rise over the life of a new three-year workplace agreement.

OTHER TRAIN OPERATORS NOT AFFECTED

A spokesman for Australian Rail Track Corp., the operator of the Hunter Valley railway for coal exports in New South Wales, said Monday it had managed the network's requirements for coal haulage as best it could over the weekend, and that services by other coal train operators had operated normally.

In fact, shiploading volumes for coal through Newcastle port rose 22.8% to a four-week high of 2.96 million mt in the seven-day period to 7 am Australian Eastern Daylight Time Monday (2000 GMT Sunday), from 2.41 million mt a week earlier, Newcastle Port Corp. in a weekly report Monday.

PWCS' terminals shipped 2.3 million mt of coal exports in the period, compared with 1.77 million mt the week before, HVCCC in its report Sunday.

--Mike Cooper, michael_cooper@platts.com
--Edited by Wendy Wells, wendy_wells@platts.com

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