Page 7 - AfrElec Week 07 2022

AfrElec GAS GENERATION AfrElec

Pouyanné says

Mozambique LNG restart

may take more than a year

SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH Africa’s Richards Bay Coal Termi- at the night shift on the security of 750 km of the
nal (RBCT) exported 58.72mn tonnes of coal coal line. This doesn’t go all the way through to
in 2021, the lowest total since 1996 and 11mn the Waterberg. It just goes to the Mpumalanga
tonnes less than in 2020. area, and we’re covering that in terms of the six-
Crucially, it was also 18mn tonnes lower than to-six shift at night, and then Transnet have dou-
its 2021 forecast of 77mn tonnes. bled up on their security service providers on the
Looking ahead, RBCT expects exports to day shift.”
rebound to 70mn tonnes in 2022. Located in KwaZulu-Natal, RBCT, which
BCT said in a briefing that 1.8mn tonnes loaded only 645 vessels in 2021 compared with
could be blamed on two major supply shut- 907 in 2017, is owned by a consortium of share-
downs during the year which reached a length holding coal companies.
of 19 days compared to the recent average of 10 The terminal received coal from 65 collier-
days. ies, with 10 active smaller miners contributing
This means that 9mn tonnes of the losses 3.5mn tonnes. Up to 4mn tonnes of RBCT’s
were the result of operational problems that 91mn tonnes per year (tpy) of export capacity
slowed down exports. is allocated to junior miners in terms of a pro-
“It’s not one of those easy announcements gramme guided by the Department of Mineral
to make for RBCT and Transnet in this year. Resources and Energy.
Just to put it on the table – 2021 has been a very Vessel turnaround time moved out from 34
difficult year,” said RBCT chairperson Nosipho hours to 39 hours, partially influenced by ves-
Damasane during a briefing. sel sizes. The increased number of Cape-sized
Coal supply problems and the availability of vessels in 2021 assists with the efficiency of the
railway locomotives were the main reasons for terminal and is favoured, but they take slightly
the bottleknecks. longer to load. Cape-sized vessels have risen to
“Cable theft has been a significant matter in half from 39%.
terms of what the coal line has been dealt with, RBCT has 98 stockpiles of coal at the termi-
and we’ve seen that on a daily, weekly basis nal and with the low stock levels it was having
throughout the course of last year. Loco avail- to clear up to 25 stockpiles a month, whereas
ability has been a challenge,” said RBCT CEO the 77mn-tonne rate normally involves clearing
Alan Waller. about 15 stockpiles a month.
“We have been working on a continuous basis “Although the terminal per se is not affected
from a terminal point of view as well as from by all that’s happening, it obviously does have
an industry point of view, in partnership with an impact in terms of the operational efficiency
Transnet Freight Rail (TFR), to understand how that the terminal has, and as a terminal, we need
we can work together to understand what these to adapt accordingly to meet those efficiency
challenges are and how we can contribute where requirements,” Waller said.
required to assist in trying to improve the overall More than 86% of the coal exported in 2021,
efficiencies. We have worked together on secu- or 50.7mn tonnes, went to the Asian countries
rity issues and that process kicked off in October of India, Pakistan and China; 5.3%, or 3.1mn
last year,” said Waller. tonnes, was exported to Mauritius and Morocco;
“We have partnered with existing service 4.3%, or 2.5mn tonnes, went to the United Arab
providers that TFR use and at this stage industry Emirates and Israel and 4%, or 2.3mn tonnes,
and existing service providers, and the increased went to the Netherlands and Italy.™
capacity that has been put on the line, are looking

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