GLADSTONE'S eastern horizon near the Fairway Buoy can be considered a leading indicator of the city's port action.

And according to Gladstone Ports Corporation chief executive officer Leo Zussino the port is seeing the first signs of recovery from the global financial crisis

He said the port had seen a significant improvement in the demand for coal over the last month and in the first week of June the port loaded 1.28 million tonnes.

“India and China are driving the market at the moment,” he said.

“With India and China leading the demand we are seeing our ship nominations at levels we saw during the peak of the boom last October.”

Mr Zussino said currently more than 70 ships were nominated for the RGTanna Coal terminal - a record.

However Mr Zussino said the medium term horizon remains volatile.

“Our traditional markets of Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Europe are still severely depressed.”

Mr Zussino said with port stocks running low, the current emphasis was on moving coal from mine to port to meet the current shipping demand.

Meanwhile the GPC faces a $90 million capital restructure as a component of the State Budget handed down this week.

GPC Chairman, Ian Brusasco, said that given the difficult budget situation, the Port of Gladstone was only too pleased to help the State Government meet its community and social funding arrangements.

“The government provided $462 million of direct funding for the RG Tanna Coal Terminal over the past three years. We are simply giving back a small part of that investment,” Mr Brusasco said.