Page 8 - AsiaElec Week 42 2022

AsiaElec COAL AsiaElec

Chinese president approves tacit

return to coal dependency

CHINA WITH the holding of the Chinese Communist added to a number of lines.
Party’s 2022 Congress this past week, energy One line from Xinjiang in China’s north-west
issues featured prominently in the speeches of carrying coal into central China is aiming to
several high-ranking officials in the opening increase capacity by 47,000 tonnes per day (tpd)
days. thanks to the addition of a dozen specially built
Most prominent were comments by sitting coal trains along certain sections of the route.
President Xi Jinping that authorities in Beijing Lin Boqiang, director at the China Centre for
are in no great rush to move away from car- Energy Economics Research at Xiamen Univer-
bon-based fuel to help achieve net-zero status sity, said of the nationwide efforts that “China’s
despite earlier promises. coal supply for winter heating is ensured, given
As a result, Xi’s comments have been seen government departments’ ramped-up efforts to
as the nation’s president giving the green light increase coal production and market supply,”
to China’s coal industry to ramp up production adding that “(a)fter a tough year in energy pro-
and subsequent transportation of coal as winter duction, China has gone all out to ensure coal
approaches. output and keep prices at a reasonable level.”
Rail transport and poorly managed infra- Earlier in the year domestic mining out-
structure last winter took much of the blame for put rose by 11% across the January-to-August
power cuts across some of China’s most heavily period, reaching a total of 2.93bn tonnes, accord-
populated cities in the north and north-east as ing to the National Bureau of Statistics. Import
one of the coldest winters on record hit hard. figures for the year were also up over the same
At the time media across the world reported timeframe to almost 168mn tonnes; a rise of
on a nation moving up the economic ladder, but 14.9%.
unable to keep the lights on in what was seen as a Taking pride of place in efforts to guarantee
huge loss of face for China’s elite. no repeat of last winter’s cuts, however, the 653-
This year, the heating is already on in the km Daqin Railway connecting the coal-mining
Inner Mongolian region, with the local govern- areas of Shanxi, the similarly named Shaanxi
ment in the city of Hohhot with its population of and the western part of Inner Mongolia with the
3.5mn having prepared over 2mn tonnes of coal East Coast is being held up as a prime example of
to see them through until spring. efforts made so far.
Similar reports are being filed from a number Shuttling coal to the most heavily populated
of other cities in northern China, often linked parts of the nation, the Daqin Railway has in the
to powering up local coal mines to aid in secur- year to date seen the total volume of coal trans-
ing supplies. In Hegang City, east of Hohhot, ported move past 120mn tonnes, already a year-
up to eight mines will be increasing capacity by on-year increase of over 10%.
around 1.14mn tonnes to meet demand. The increase has been made possible in
Of equal importance to increased produc- large part due to centralised maintenance pro-
tion are plans to reinforce existing coal trans- grammes rather than having local repair teams
portation routes to help alleviate pressure on take charge of different sections of the route, as
the nation’s two main supply lines running from well as the addition of 14 heavy-haul trains in one
north to south and east to west. sector of track to help boost operational capacity
Dedicated coal carriers have already been of the regular 87 units hauling coal daily. ™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 42 19•October•2022