Coal exports from Australia's Newcastle Port rose by about 2 percent over the past week, while the waiting time for ships eased by over a day, official port data said on Monday.
Newcastle port, one of Australia's largest coal export terminals, saw exports rise by 38,000 tonnes to 1.739 million tonnes for the week ended May 7, Newcastle Port Corporation (NPC) data showed.
A spokesman from the port told Reuters that port operations remained steady, but added that a recent new capability to take larger vessels at night could improve efficiency.
"The port can now haul vessels that are 290 metres long at night compared to 275 metres," he said. Most of these larger vessels that berth at the port are coal ships, he added. The waiting time at the port fell by 1.61 days from a week ago to 27.28 days, the steepest decline since January 8.
Vessel queues at the port rose by one ship from a week ago to 68 ships, the port spokesman said. Coal stocks on hand at the Carrington and Kooragang berths rose by 7,000 tonnes over the week to 935,000 tonnes, data showed.