Richards Bay coal exports climb to record

Photo: Leon Nicholas, Independent Media

Photo: Leon Nicholas, Independent Media

Published Jan 3, 2014

Share

Johannesburg - Exports from South Africa’s Richards Bay Coal Terminal, the world’s largest single facility for the fuel, rose to a record in 2013.

The terminal shipped 70.2 million metric tons last year compared with 68.3 million tons 12 months earlier, it said on its website today.

It also received 70.42 million tons by rail, 2.8 percent more than in 2012, it said.

“In 2013 RBCT has, for the first time, received and exported more than 70 million tons of coal,” it said.

RBCT handles coal from mines owned by companies including Glencore Xstrata Plc, Anglo American Plc and BHP Billiton Ltd.

The facility has capacity to ship 91 million tons annually.

South Africa is the seventh-biggest producer of the fuel globally, according to the World Coal Association’s website.

The country’s sole power utility, state-owned Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., uses it to meet about 85 percent of its generation needs.

South Africa exports coal to Europe, China and India. - Bloomberg News

Related Topics: