RE: Steam coal's demise good for HCC Steam coal's demise in the US bodes well for Met coal in one important sense: logistics. Up to now steam coal's primary market was the US electrical utilities and hardly any was shiped overseas to the power hungrly Sout East Asia. With the large discovery of shale gas and its low price, king coal is looking for long sea voyages to survive. Yet, there is hardly any coal terminal in the West coast to massively accomodate the steam coal exports of the US industry. And this is going to be the focus of the coal exporters in the coming months and years. Because natural gas is still too expensive for the emerging markets, coal is still very important for power generation in China and India. One million BTU's of natural gas cost $15 while equal BTU's of steam coal costs only $5. So the demand for steam coal in the emerging markets will be robust for many years to come and the survival of the US coal industry will depend on these markets. But to reduce trasportation costs coal must be transported in big freighters and from deep water harbors. A deep harbor ship can carry 250,000 tonnes of coal without having to go through the Panama Canal. And coal terminals for this size of bulk shipments will have to be built in the West Coast. This will cut down transport costs for the thermal coal, but it can also benefit the seaborn trade of Met Coal. It may be possible for CMK to use the Valemax ships that can carry 450000 tonnes from Corpus Christi terminal and around the edge of South Africa to China, something that has generated some controversy lately with access to the Chinese ports. But first CMK has to survive and then thrive, but logistics for CMK seems not to be a problem.