By Tyler Godwin

July 14, 2020 - Five coal-laden ships departed from Baltimore in the week ended July 12, up from four a week earlier, according to cFlow, Platts trade-flow software.

The total dead-weight tonnage of the departures was 228,743 dwt, up from 107,784 dwt in the prior week, according to the data.

Three of the departures remained in North America. One is expected to arrive in Jacksonville, Florida, July 14, while another is expected to make it to Tampa, Florida, July 17. Another ship is expected to arrive in Inagua, Bahamas, July 17, while another is estimated to reach Tubarão, Brazil, July 21.

The final ships are traveling to Genoa, Italy, and is scheduled to make it July 25.

In the next week, six coal ships are expected to arrive in Baltimore by July 19, flat from the previous week, according to the data.

Five of the expected coal carriers are unladen, while one is laden. In the prior week, three were unladen, two were laden and one was partially laden.

S&P Global Platts assessed FOB Baltimore 6,900 kcal/kg NAR 3% sulfur coal, for 15- to 60-day loading, at $56.95/mt July 13, down 70 cents from July 2.

Baltimore, the second-largest coal-exporting port in the US, shipped out 18.93 million mt of coal in 2019, down from 19.53 million mt in 2018, according to US Census Bureau data. More than 52%, or 9.9 million mt, of the coal shipped out of Baltimore was bituminous coal, while the remaining 48% was metallurgical coal.

Through the first five months of 2020, over 6.32 million mt of coal was exported out of Baltimore, including 3.86 million mt of bituminous coal, down from 9.73 million mt and 5.45 million mt, respectively, in the same period a year ago.