With the dawn of electricity deregulation, domestic power companies embraced new fuel purchasing practices, much of which included buying imported coal. ECI was at the forefront of this trend, delivering its first import cargo in 1999. Acting as both agent and principal, the company has delivered more than 180 cargoes of imported coal since that inaugural cargo.
ECI maintains a reliable supplier base in Colombia, Venezuela, Russia and Indonesia, from which it can offer competitively-priced Metallurgical, PCI, and Low Sulfur Steam coal to its customers.
Since many U.S. receivers have limited or no terminal capabilities, ECI was instrumental in developing specific solutions to advance coal imports. For example, ECI set up full stream discharge operations from vessel to barge, bypassing the costs of using a terminal, and pioneered the use of a combination self-discharge vessel and barge to allow draft restricted facilities to enjoy the advantage of fully laden vessel delivery.