Newcastle is one of Australia's busiest ports, but with only three or four ships loaded per day, ships at the back of the queue are forced to wait for around a week.
The delay costs Australian coal producers who use the port about $1 million a day in fines levied by shipping companies for loading delays, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has estimated.
But News Ltd reports that more than a dozen coal companies that use the port and co-own the coal loaders, including giants Xstrata, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, will be told at talks in Sydney on Thursday that a long-term solution to the crisis has been unreachable.
NSW Ports Minister Joe Tripodi will not sign off an agreement among coal companies because he fears they want to carve up access to the port between them, blocking out new entrants, says News Ltd.
An internal email circulated by the companies that are set to meet on Thursday says: "There is considerable work to be undertaken in order to resolve coal terminal access arrangements to allow for an ACCC submission and implementation of associated long-term contracts.
"It is unlikely that this can be achieved to allow for implementation by 1 January 2009."
Faced with the ongoing crisis, the companies have decided to return to the ACCC with a stop-gap solution for next year only.
