July 1 (Bloomberg) -- Coal exports from Australia's Newcastle, the world's biggest export harbor for the fuel, rose to a five-month high last week while the number of ships waiting outside the port declined.

The volume shipped in the week ended 7 a.m. local time yesterday rose 3.5 percent to 2.06 million metric tons from 1.99 million tons a week earlier, according to Bloomberg data. A total of 38 ships, waiting to load 3.1 million tons of coal, were lined up outside the port.

Bottlenecks at Newcastle, together with flooding in Queensland state to the north, helped prices for power-station coal from the Australian port to double in the past year. The price of coal rose to a record for a fifth week for the seven days ended June 27 as demand surges in India and China.

Coal shipswaited 11.15 days to load coal in the week, down from 12.1 days a week earlier. The waiting time compared with 1.57 days for general cargo vessels last week.

A total of 24 coal vessels entered Newcastle in the week, one more than a week earlier. Sixteen ships were bound for Japan, four for South Korea and Taiwan, Newcastle Port said in an e-mailed report.

The weekly price index for power-station coal shipped from Newcastle rose $9.44, or 5.8 percent, to $172.10 a ton in the week ended June 27, according to the globalCOAL NEWC index. The price has risen 92 percent this year.

Rio Tinto Group, Xstrata Plc and BHP Billiton Ltd. are among mining companies that ship coal through Newcastle.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jesse Riseborough in Melbourne at jriseborough@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 1, 2008 02:14 EDT