Banpu declares force majeure on Indominco

Thai energy firm Banpu PCL announced on Tuesday it had declared force majeure for coal shipments from its Indominco Mandiri mine in East Kalimantan following operational incident Bontang Coal Terminal during the evening of Saturday 10th February which has disrupted coal loading.

The company said initial investigations revealed that Bontang ship loading boom became damaged due to winch motor brake malfunctioning.

?The incident has led to temporary suspension of loading activity at the port. A Force Majeure has been issued to customers. Where possible, barges and floating cranes will be used to load vessels - and waiting and approaching vessels will be diverted to other ports,? it said.

Banpu said the problem may take a number of weeks to resolve.

Bontang Coal Terminal is Banpu's major port facility in Kalimantan, with throughput capacity of 12.5 million tonnes per annum. An investment of approximately US$ 60 million has recently been approved by the Banpu Board of Directors to upgrade the terminal and to expand ship-loading capacity to 18.5 million tonnes per annum by 2008.(denny)