Canadian miner Teck Resources’ Westshore metallurgical coal export terminal in Delta, British Columbia may shut down on Dec 19 due to a worker’s strike.
According to media reports, the terminal received a three-day strike notice (beginning Dec 19) from a local workers union on Thursday, leading to complete suspension of operations. Westshore currently handles 33mn mt of the miner’s coal exports in a year.
A company spokesperson said that Teck is working on potential solutions in case the strike proceeds and may use other ports to ship met coal during that period. Teck hopes to reach a settlement with the union “as quickly as possible.”
The miner expects to ship 5.8-6mn mt of steelmaking coal in Q4 2020, with 20pc of the volume destined for China as the latter’s relations with Australia, a large source for met coal, have recently deteriorated.