美国对煤炭出口寄予厚望

US coal exports hold big promise

美国积极向亚洲买家推销其储量庞大的煤炭资源，航运公司因此而受益。

Shipping stands to benefit from substantially higher tonnemiles as the US aggressively markets its huge coal reserves to buyers in Asia.The US is fast becoming one of the world's major coal exporters and its targetting of Asian customers could provide a much-needed boost for the dry-bulk industry.The US is one of the top three coal producers globally with output forecast to be around 90 million tonnes in 2012.It has the largest coal reserves in the world and the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming produces the cheapest coal worldwide on a free-on-rail basis.Domestic coal consumption has been on the decline for a number of years as power producers switch to gas,which is cheaper.As prices have plummetted and mine closures have become commonplace,US coal producers have turned to the export markets in a big way in order to find buyers.Several ambitious projects to build coal-export terminals on the west coast have been hampered by concerns raised by citizen and environmental groups,who do not want their shores despoiled by dirty coal terminals.