The severe delays and bottlenecks are pushing up coking coal prices, denying the country of 8 million tonnes of coal export revenue and adding extra shipping charges.

Most of the 223 ships were waiting at coal ports on the east coast – notably Hay Point and Dalrymple Bay in Queensland and Newcastle in New South Wales – with numbers doubling over the past month and now 13 higher than the record of 210 set at the end of December, Commodore Research director Jeffrey Landsberg said.

This is despite Dalrymple Bay completing an expansion eight months ago to take annual capacity to 85Mt per annum, and Newcastle opening a third $1 billion coal terminal which began shipments two weeks ago.

At Dalrymple Bay, the declaration of force majeure by coal miners after Cyclone Ului meant delays had stretched to 40-50 days, according to the British-based Global Port Congestion Index.

The cumulative impact of Cyclone Ului and other recent weather events on Queensland’s coal chain could push spot coking coal prices up to $US300 a tonne, Macquarie Research says.

BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance’s declaration of force majeure on the Hay Point Coal Terminal might not see the port in full operation for up to five weeks, adding to the wet season’s toll on the state’s coal supply chain.

Setbacks include production cuts and delays at various mines, a train derailment in the Blackwater rail corridor last month, a power outage at Hay Point and the temporary closure of Gladstone’s port.

A ship was brought alongside and loaded during Easter. This has moved BMA closer to lifting the force majeure it declared two weeks ago after the terminal was damaged by Cyclone Ului.

"As part of the recovery process at Hay Point Coal Terminal a vessel was brought alongside Berth 2 on Friday April 2 to allow testing and commissioning of conveyor belt systems, shiploader and berthing arrangements,” a BMA spokesperson said.

“Ship loading commenced late Friday evening from that berth.”

Testing will be conducted on Berth 1 today, which will involve bringing a vessel alongside.

The neighbouring Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal escaped any serious damage from the cyclone and resumed shipping on March 24.

Macquarie analysts have forecast a total loss of 6-6.5Mt of metallurgical coal exports in the March quarter and are not ruling out near-term prices of $300/t as a supply shortfall approaches with pig iron production “currently booming”

While Prime Infrastructure’s Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal reopened unscathed after a weekend closure, Australia’s leading metallurgical coal port has not yet reached its 85Mtpa nameplate capacity, exporting 32.1Mt in the last six months of 2009.

The analysts noted there was already more than 6Mt stockpiled at the port and expected BMA’s force majeure at the Hay Point terminal to result in production cuts at the Poitrel and South Walker Creek mines.