Due to high transshipment rates at OTEKO terminal in Taman, that make coal exports unprofitable, Russian mining companies did not submit railroad applications to the port for February 2024. Thus, the exports of Russian coal through the terminal will not be performed until at least March 2024, and export rail shipments to the port in Jan-Feb 2024 will amount to only 1.3 mio t (-3.2 mio t or -71.1% vs. Jan-Feb 2023).
Coal volumes intended for transshipment in Taman are lost for the export market, as they cannot be redirected to other destinations (North-West, Far East and border crossings) based on the regulations on approval of coal transportation planning.
Coal miners insist on lower handling rates on the back of falling global prices and logistical constraints. In late January and early February, seaborne coal shipments from Taman were halted.
With the downward trend in the world coal market, Taman became uncompetitive compared to other terminals. For export coal grades, the rate could be more than 40 USD/t. Meanwhile, in February the rate did not change compared to January and almost corresponded to the level of December 2023, although during this period quotations significantly corrected downward.
A drop in coal shipments to Taman was registered in Q4 2023. Volumes decreased by 14% from 2.1 mio t in September to 1.8 mio tons in December. In January 2024, supplies fell 28.6% to 1.3 mio t (-0.5 mio t vs. December 2023 and -0.9 mio t vs January 2023).
In 2023, the total transshipment volume of OTECO, owned by Michel Litvak, amounted to 25.1 mio t (-4.9 mio t or -15% y-o-y).
