KINDER MORGAN WATCH

http://www.caribbeanshipping.org/showarticle.asp?ArticleName=dn002007091...

SANTA MARTA (Colombia) 18 September – The conflict of interests between tourism and coal industry interests in coastal Colombia is hotting up, with a dispute focusing on the port of Santa Marta. News last week that major hotel chain Decameron is closing a large hotel because of ‘interference’ from coal export terminals has triggered intense country-wide debate, and the new announcement by coal major Glencore and others that 120-car coal trains will soon be running near the hotels has exacerbated the quarrel. The major coal exporters, principally Glencore and Drummond, are now under extreme pressure to build new terminals very quickly and to invest heavily amounts in clean technology. Bogota has announced that offshore loading using floating equipment must end by July 2010, and that Glencore’s Prodeco port concession will not be renewed on expiry in 2009. The hotel owners think this is not soon enough, and the terminal operators – including Drummond, with a 2007 throughput of 26M tonnes – complain that there is not enough time to build new ship-loading facilities. The Coal War has also spread to Cartagena, the Mecca of tourism in Colombia. Canadian operator CoalCorp is planning a new terminal at a beach resort south of the city, where Decameron has also been planning a big hotel. Decameron says it has frozen its investment and will cancel it if CoalCorp is not stopped. Different interests are even dividing the government. Ironically, the Association of American Ports has awarded the 6M tpa direct-loading Carbosan coal terminal, located in the port of Santa Marta itself, its 2007 environmental prize for exemplary management of coal reception, storage and ship-loading.