Cerrejón has also invested in
increasing capacity at Puerto Bolivar,
which now stands at 40 million tpy.
Puerto Nuevo, owned and operated
by Prodeco, a division of Glencore, was
completed in 2013 and is the export
terminal for coal produced at
Calenturitas and La Jagua in the
department of Cesar and has capacity
of 21 million tpy.
The Rio Cordoba coal port (known
locally by its official name Sociedad
Portuaria Río Córdoba) was forced to
suspend operations in 2014, pending
conversion to direct loading
operations, by Colombia’s
Environmental Protection Agency.
The Carbosan coal terminal (a
division of Sociedad Portuaria de Santa
Marta) handles coal exports for various
Colombia-based mining companies that
lack their own ports. Capacity is
7 million tpy and its development plans
include a 16 km rail link to the port.
The Puerto Brisa coal terminal is a
recently constructed multipurpose port
near Dibulla, in La Guajira department
on Colombia’s Caribbean coast.
Inaugurated in 2014, the port has a
loading capacity of 5000 tph of coal
and a 66 ft deep harbour, capable of
receiving capesize ships up to
180 000 DWT. At the time of its
inauguration in 2014, the port had the
potential to handle 30 million tpy of
coal and other merchandise. Phase two
of the project calls for construction of a
325 km railway that will connect the
port to Colombia’s interior coal mines,
coupled with expansion of the port’s
processing capacity to 50 million tpy.
Current work on widening the
Panama Canal may also present
opportunities for developing future
markets in the Pacific trade.
Conclusion
Historically, Colombia has been
dominant in the Atlantic coal trade,
serving both the eastern seaboard of
the US and European markets. There
has been a recent shift in world trade:
coals from the Richards Bay coal
terminal in South Africa, which
previously competed with Colombian
coals in Europe, have been diverted to
Asian markets, while Colombian coals
now compete with Russian coals in
Europe. Recently, exports to the US
have fallen and South America and
Asia are growing in importance as
markets.
Security in Colombia improved
significantly under the regimes of
presidents Uribe and Santos, and the
countries stability, fiscal and tax
structures are viewed as favourable for
foreign investment in mining. The coal
industry is an important contributor to
the economy of the country and is
recognised as such.
Note
1. This article develops themes first discussed
in: BRIGHT, P., ‘Coal in Colombia’
World
Coal
(February 2011), pp. 8 – 15.
2. Mining and geology in Colombia is
administered by Ingeominas and the
National Mining Agency (ANM), which
provides an admirably integrated online
service to support the industry.
Editor's note
This month‘s regional report comprises
complementary articles from Barry Baxter
and Paul Bright. Every effort has
been made to ensure the figures
quoted in both articles are consistent.
Remaining discrepancies result from the
authors’ use of different statistical sources.
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