Colombian miner Prodeco, a subsidiary of Switzerland-based trader Glencore, has declared force majeure on vessels waiting to load at the company's Puerto Prodeco coal export terminal after a week-long strike by private coal railway company Fenoco, sources said Tuesday.

This comes after Colombian miner Drummond also declared force majeure on vessels berthed at its own Puerto Drummond coal port (see story at 1152 GMT).

Glencore had no comment on the force majeure.

A source close to the company said that it was not a "blanket" force majeure on Prodeco's operations but was being done on a "case-by-case basis.”

The source said that the company was working with its customers to reschedule its thermal coal cargoes "to a later date as appropriate."

The source also said that fewer than five vessels have been affected.

Two coal industry sources -- a trader and a north European utility source -- contacted by Platts Tuesday confirmed that the force majeure was in place, in addition to a shipping broker source on Monday evening.

Workers at Fenoco, which transports thermal coal from producer Drummond, Prodeco, and Goldman Sachs-affiliate Colombian Natural Resources to coal ports in northern Colombia, went on strike on July 23 over pay and work conditions.

Alongside the Fenoco strike, there is also ongoing industrial action at the Prodeco-owned La Jagua 7 million mt/year thermal coal mine, which began July 19.

Prodeco produced 14.6 million mt of coal in 2011, but plans to increase annual output to 21 million mt/year by the end of 2013.

Tags: Platts