Port logistics overall have improved, the railroad said. Boone said Q2 performance was good at its coastal port Curtis Bay in Baltimore. Looking to the future, CSX said its developing new transportation lanes and boosting its activity at inland ports. "I think it's really early in July to call 2024. "We'll see how the winter plays out," Boone said.
The railroad said it anticipates higher full-year coal shipments due to strong export demand and good cycle times, but that domestic shipments are likely to soften amid low natural gas prices. CSX mainly exports met coal priced around $225/mt, according to Boone. The higher coal volume was driven by more export shipments as domestic utilities sought to move tons into higher-priced international markets, CSX said. For the first six months of 2023, CSX coal volumes rose 11% on the year to 370,000 units as revenue per unit fell 3% to $3,432. CSX's revenue per coal unit was $3,443 in Q2 2023, down 6% from the year-ago quarter. Thermal coal prices were weaker in Q2 amid low-cost natural gas and softer global coal demand.Ĭentral Appalachia 12,500 Btu/lb CSX rail coal averaged $75.46/st in Q2, down 49.9% from $150.70/st in the year-ago quarter, according to the Platts assessments by S&P Global Commodity Insights.ĭue to lower coal prices, CSX coal revenue fell 2% on the year to $637 million in Q2 even as coal volumes rose 4% to 185,000 units.
While the summer heat has been a "helpful tailwind" so far in Q3 with customers seeking more sets, overall utility coal stockpiles are projected to be stable in the second half of 2023, according to the company's July 20 investor presentation.
"Weather is a surprise from a heat perspective to the upside here over the last few weeks, and we're seeing that with a lot of our customers running full out here and deploying some of the inventory levels," Boone said. But just recently, we're getting a lot more interest and a lot more inbounds on what we can do, given some of the heat waves we're having."īoone said inventory destocking is expected to slow in many CSX-served markets, but the specific timing around this shift was uncertain. "Look, two weeks, three weeks ago, before this hot summer started, probably a little bit lower outlook for domestic coal business. "Coal is a dynamic market right now," said CSX Executive Vice President Kevin Boone.
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