Existing coal export ports in the United States are in general not designed to the standards compatible with the current state of the art. The United States has a current coal export capacity in the order of 83 million tons per year. This could be increased to 138 million tons per year through a process of modernization and expansion which would take about six to eight years for full realization. Even if this expansion program took place it would not result in an overall coal export system that was economically competitive due to the fact that our export terminals are generally outmoded and cannot accommodate the large vessels engaged in the world coal trade and which can be accommodated at the major coal destination ports in Europe and Japan. In order for the United States to achieve an economically competitive posture in the world coal trade, new ports that will handle 150,000 to 250,000 DWT ships are needed. The new terminals must be designed to receive coal efficiently and minimize the demurrage costs for both railcars on the delivery side and ships on the load out side. There are port sites available in the US which could be developed to effectively handle the increased requirements. Each major new port could easily be designed to handle 20 to 50 million tons per year at ultimate capacity subject to the availability of coal from the source at a reasonable cost. New port construction is needed to satisfy the projected demand at a reasonable cost and to provide for the obsolescence of existing facilities. Decisions are needed now so that the ports will be operating 20 years from now and serve as replacements for present facilities which are becoming obsolete. The government of the United States can and must play a major role if success is to be achieved.