Coal exports from Australia's Newcastle, the world's biggest export harbor for the fuel, fell 18 percent last week as climate-change protesters disrupted loadings.

The volume shipped in the week ended 7 a.m. local time yesterday fell to 1.61 million metric tons from 1.96 million tons a week earlier, Newcastle Port Corp. said today on its Web site. A total of 36 ships, waiting to load 2.96 million tons of coal, were lined up outside the port, the same number as last week.

Shipments from the port were delayed last week after protesters chained themselves to a conveyor and railroads, temporarily halting coal loading and delaying deliveries. Rio Tinto Group, Xstrata Plc and BHP Billiton Ltd. are among mining companies that ship coal through Newcastle.

Coal ships waited 11.12 days to load coal in the week ended July 21, unchanged from a week earlier, Newcastle Port said. The waiting time compared with 0.08 day for general cargo vessels, it said.

A total of 33 vessels carrying coal left Newcastle in the week ended July 19, two fewer than a week earlier, Newcastle Port said today in an e-mailed report. Seventeen ships were bound for Japan, two for Taiwan, and one each for Korea, Turkey and Noumea, it said. The destinations of the other ships weren't disclosed.

The weekly index for power-station coal prices at the New South Wales port fell $6.85 to $180.85 a metric ton in the week ended July 18, according to the globalCOAL NEWC Index. The price reached a record $194.79 a ton in the week ended July 4.