Coal transport: Value chain
Indonesian exporters, Chinese buyers and the railways in between
What this tab covers Who does what, from equipment makers to builders, owners, operators, traders and users, with the leading companies at each step.Miners load the coal. Railways, ports and shipowners move it. Traders and utilities buy it. Regulators set rail rates, port rules and dust and emissions limits.
The chain
Heavy-haul railways Power-sector buyers building conveyors Shipbuilders (bulk carriers) Exporting countries (2025) Importers (2025)| Stage | What happens | Leading companies |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy-haul railways | Run the trains between mines and ports or power plants | Daqin Railway Co (China) BNSF Railway (US)5613 |
| Power-sector buyers building conveyors | Receive coal and increasingly build their own conveyors from nearby mines | MAHAGENCO (India)15 |
| Shipbuilders (bulk carriers) | China holds 68% and South Korea 17% of the world orderbook by CGT (end-September 2026, Clarksons); bulk carriers are 73% of Japan's orderbook | Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (China), 42 bulk carriers on order Imabari Shipbuilding (Japan)162425 |
| Exporting countries (2025) | Main sources of seaborne thermal coal | Indonesia (517 Mt) Australia (about 209 Mt thermal, 142 Mt metallurgical) Russia (about 130 Mt) South Africa Colombia (45 Mt)1 |
| Importers (2025) | Main buyers | China (about 495 Mt) India (167 Mt thermal) Japan South Korea Viet Nam (55 Mt)1 |
Freight is a big part of coal's delivered price because the fuel itself is cheap per tonne. In the US, transport was about 40% of the delivered cost of coal to power plants in 2019, up from about a third in 2008. Plants served by a single railway have little bargaining power. The sources used gave no market-share ranking of bulk shipowners or coal traders, so those firms are not named.
Sources
- Coal Mid-Year Update 2026: Trade IEA, 2026
- Chinese heavy haul coal traffic plateaus International Railway Journal, 2026
- Daqin Railway 2025 net profit down nearly 35%, targets 400 Mt for core line SXCoal, 2026
- Coal dust from trains adds to pollution, new research finds (reports BNSF testimony) KUOW, 2013
- MAHAGENCO modernises coal transport with closed pipe conveyor network (produced in collaboration with MAHAGENCO) Free Press Journal, 2026
- China claims 76% of new shipbuilding orders globally in September 2026 (Clarksons data) SteelOrbis, 2026
- Japanese shipyards secure order backlog through 2029 Baird Maritime, 2026
- Yangzijiang Shipbuilding 1Q2026 results presentation Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (SGX filing), 2026