According to Citigroup, the number of vessels is 50% more than the October average and 150% more than the year to date monthly average.

The brokerage said the long queue was mainly attributable to Port Waratah Coal Services’ ongoing maintenance and upgrade programs for the port’s facilities.

During November there were six days of planned ARTC track work, including the commissioning of a new flyover at Sandgate.

The Sandgate Flyover, which provides separate train tracks for coal and passenger trains, has been under construction for the past 12 months and was due for completion in mid-November.

On top of expansion work, last month the quota system for queue management was removed.

Hunter Valley Coal Chain Logistics Team chairman Graham Davidson had said in late October that the coal chain capacity in November would be at 6.2 million tonnes, with 7.9Mt (96Mtpa) of vessels forecast to arrive. At the time they anticipated the vessel queue to grow to over 40 vessels.

The queue is expected abate in early 2007.