Queensland-based rail operator Aurizon has announced a 2% decline in rail volumes in the December 2014 quarter.
Aurizon told the ASX last week that it handled 54.8 million tonnes of coal in the last three months of 2014, down from 56.2 million tonnes in the same quarter of 2013.
Haulage in Queensland was down 2% to 43.8 million tonnes, and haulage in NSW was down 4% to 11 million tonnes, according to the operator.
There was an 11% reduction in net tonne kilometres (NTKs) for Aurizon in its NSW coal business, and a 3% reduction in Queensland NTKs.
Aurizon’s smaller iron ore handling business saw a 22% year-on-year decline to 6.1 million tonnes handled, and the company enjoyed a modest increase in freight volumes.
“[Queensland] volumes of 43.8mt represent a 2% decrease compared to the pcp, reflecting the closure of Peabody’s Wilkie Creek mine in December2013 and the end of Rio Tinto’s Hail Creek contract in October 2013,” the company explained.
“If we removed the impact of these two customers, growth would have been flat.”
A number of operational incidents also contributed to the softer performance, including a fatal motor vehicle accident in October 2014 which impacted crew availability on the Blackwater network.