Teck Resources has made an in-principle agreement with Westshore Terminals, to extend their contract to ship steelmaking coal from the terminal after March 31, 2021.
The planned contract will offer a shipment range of 5-7mn mt of annual steelmaking coal at a fixed load rate, Teck disclosed in a news release on Wednesday. The scope of tonnage will pertain to the nine months between April 2021 through Dec 2021 then apply for every January-December period thereafter, until the agreed upon volume levels are achieved.
Teck actively mines four steelmaking coal facilities in Western Canada and produced 26.2mn mt of steelmaking coal in 2018. In total, the miner will ship 32.25mn mt of steelmaking coal under the new agreement.
The contract proposal with British Columbia-based Westshore supplements the company’s ongoing advancements at Neptune Terminals, Teck’s bulk shipper on the Port of Vancouver. The agreement will also expand capacity at Ridley Terminals, the British Columbian bulk export outlet, that has the capacity to load 9,000mt per hour.
Collectively, the actions will lead to improved flexibility with more options available for Teck shipments along with cost reductions, greater performance, and added reliability for the company’s steelmaking coal supply chain, the news release said.
The proposed agreement is bound by final authorization.