New figures from the International Energy Agency (IEA) confirm the trend, just announced by the UK, that the consumption of coal and thereby its seaborne transport will decline significantly over the coming years. Britain's government will phase out coal by 2025, and already by 2023 there will be major restrictions on its use.

Among the predictions in the IEA report, the role of coal in the US energy sector is expected to significantly decrease from 43 percent in 2014 to just 20 percent in 2038, as a result of environmental restrictions.