* Exports up to 65.5 mln T, still short 91 mln T capacity
* Coal stocks at 3.3 mln T at end Dec
(Adds details, background)
JOHANNESBURG Jan 9 (Reuters) – South Africa’s coal
exports from the Richards Bay terminal rose 3.3 percent to 65.5
million tonnes in 2011, the terminal’s data showed on Monday, as
improvements on the rail lines leading to the port started to
pay off.
State-owned logistics group Transnet has been
investing heavily to upgrade its lines and to invest in new
wagons and locomotives, but export figures are still far below
the coal terminal’s expanded capacity of 91 million tonnes.
Coal producers in South Africa including Anglo American
, BHP Billiton , Exxaro, Optimum
Coal and Xstrata have been eager to export more
coal to meet rising demand from India and China but have been
limited by bottlenecks on the lines leading to the port.
Last week, South Africa’s coal exporters provided a slightly
lower 2011 export estimate of 64.6 million tonnes, a rise of 1.9
percent.
Transnet has said it will take until at least 2015 to be
able to carry 81 million tonnes to the Richards Bay Coal
Terminal (RBCT) each year.
The group also plans to free up an additional 14 million
tonnes of capacity on the coal line by moving non-coal cargo to
a new line via Swaziland.
Coal producers have begun to look beyond South Africa and
explore export routes via Mozambique and Namibia, although the
rail links or expansion at the relevant ports are still in the
planning stage or would involve higher costs.
Coal stocks at the terminal stood at 3.3 million tonnes at
the end of December, RBCT added.
(Reporting by Agnieszka Flak and Olivia Kumwenda, editing by
Jane Baird)
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