By Tyler Godwin

October 17, 2018 - Coal exports from Ridley Terminals in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, totaled 607,000 mt in September, down 19.7% from 755,570 mt in August and the lowest since 598,600 mt exported in February, according to data from the Prince Rupert Port Authority released Tuesday.

The total, which combines metallurgical and thermal coal, was also down 27.2% from 833,584 mt exported in the year-ago month.

For the first nine months of the year, 5.9 million mt of coal has been shipped out of the terminal, up 33.6% from 4.42 million mt in the same period a year ago and the highest for the corresponding time period since 8.21 million mt in 2013.

Met coal exports from the terminal totaled 429,159 mt in September, down 27.6% from August and 35.8% from the same month last year.

For the year so far, met coal exports totaled 4.34 million mt, up 42.4% from 3.05 million mt in the same period a year ago and the highest since 2013.

Thermal coal exports in September totaled 177,841 mt, up 9% from 163,209 mt in August and up 7.8% from 164,992 mt in the year-ago month. It was the highest monthly total for September since 2015 when 243,769 mt was shipped out.

For the year, thermal exports totaled 1.56 million mt, up 13.9% from 1.37 million mt in the same period last year.

The terminal, the closest major North American coal export terminal to Asia, is served by Canadian National railroad. The largest customer is Conuma Coal Resources, a met coal producer in British Columbia.