New Data Set Rounds Out Picture of Coal Shipments in the US

NEW YORK, New York, October 2 -- Genscape Inc., the nation’s first and only supplier of real-time power plant output and transmission status information has enhanced its offering of coal transportation information by adding shipments by barge to its Coal Transport Report.

Coal-fired generation accounts for 50% of all electricity produced in the United States, and the amount and type of coal shipped have a pronounced effect on the price movements of other fuels such as natural gas and oil.

The Genscape Weekly Coal Transport Report now provides detailed insight into shipments by rail and barge. The barge data is derived from US Army Corps of Engineers daily reports on vessel sailings on the Allegheny, Arkansas, Cumberland, Green, Illinois, Kanawha, Mississippi, Monongahela, Ohio and Tennessee rivers.

In addition to completing the picture of coal shipments, the new data is being used to improve the accuracy of Genscape’s Weekly Coal Stock Report. The level of coal inventories is a key indicator for future energy price direction.

“Energy traders have been focused on the increasing competition between gas and coal this year” says Abudi Zein, Senior VP, Genscape Data Resources. “The details of coal fundamentals are a key element in modeling and predicting the interplay between coal and gas.”

“We are getting a lot of interest from across the energy trading spectrum in our coal data”, said Mike McAuliffe, Genscape’s Vice President of Sales & Marketing, “and that is why we keep pushing for additions and enhancements.” More equity and debt analysts with a focus on the energy sector are also showing more interest in this data, McAuliffe noted.

For More Information: Michael McAuliffe, VP of Sales & Marketing (502) 583-4315.