coals for the world’s top ten producers
in terms of tonnes of oil equivalent (toe)
for 2009 and Colombian coals, at 0.65
toe/t, rank second to only Australia
(0.689 toe/t).
Infrastructure
The main infrastructure in place for
transport to and at the exporting ports is
currently undergoing expansion and
revision.
Rail
Production from the Cerrejón mine is
transported some 135 km to
Puerto Bolivar by rail.
Following representations by a group
of local coal producers, ownership of the
Fenoco railroad has recently changed
with a number of producers, including
CNR and Prodeco, purchasing equity in
the railway. This has enabled producers
other than Drummond, which
previously had full capacity usage of the
railroad, to have access to rail transport
of coal northwards to the Caribbean port
of Santa Marta. The Fenoco railway is a
high-capacity, narrow‑gauge railroad
capable of accommodating unit train
rolling stock at overall tonnages of
approximately 5000 t/train. Drummond
and Prodeco currently ship coal
production from their nearby mining
operations to their ports at Santa Marta
on this railroad. Upgrading the line to
meet the new capacity is well underway,
additional spurs and passing places are
already in place and the construction of
a parallel line to further increase
capacity is also well advanced.
In February 2015, Colombia’s
constitutional court ordered operation of
the railway to be suspended between the
hours of 10:30 pm and 4:30 am,
following noise complaints from local
people. This would have potentially cut
exports on the line frommines in the
La Loma area by 25%. It was later agreed
that night operations could be resumed
provided engineering work was carried
out to lower noise levels – and the work
was expected to take two months.
Road transport to the Caribbean ports
remains an alternative option and the
Colombian government has stated its
commitment to upgrading the road
transport infrastructure. Upgrading of
the Ruta del Sol to a dual carriageway
between La Loma and the Caribbean
ports is currently underway.
Ports and world trade
Recent upgrading has taken place at
various locations. Drummond has
converted to direct loading operations of
its port facility at Puerto Drummond,
approximately 10 km from Cienaga, and
its recent investments there have
resulted in a doubling of capacity to
60 million tpy.
Feneco rail link and ports.
Table 3. Port capacity (2011)
Port location Terminal
Access
Capacity (million tpy) Vessel size (DWT)
La Guajira
Puerto Bolivar
Caribbean 32
180 000
Santa Marta Puerto Drummond
Caribbean 26
180 000
Santa Marta C.I. Prodeco
Caribbean 12
180 000
Cienaga
Río Cordoba
Caribbean 6
100 000
Santa Marta Carbosan
Caribbean 6
80 000
Barranquilla SPR de Barranquilla
Caribbean 1
35 000
Barranquilla Cementos Caribe
Caribbean 1
35 000
Barranquilla Sociedad Portuaria
de Norte
Caribbean 0.5
35 000
Cartagena
Sociedad Argos
(Colclinkler)
Caribbean 1
65 000
Buenaventura Grupo Portuario (M-13)
Pacific
0.35
35 000
Buenaventura SPR de Buenaventura Pacific
0.6
35 000
Cartagena
Puerto Mamonal
Caribbean 0.2
10 000
Cartagena
Muelles El Bosque
Caribbean 0.1
10 000
Source: McCloskey.
20
|
World Coal
|
December 2015
