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By late August, the expanded port was in operation and began loading its first shipment.<ref>[http://www.cerrejon.com/site/english/press-room/multimedia-gallery/gallery-first-coal-load-from-new-pier.aspx "Cerrejón Loads First 20,000 Tonnes of Coal from New Pier at Puerto Bolivar"], Cerrejon Coal Company website, September 2, 2014.</ref>
However, before the expanded mine and port could substantially increase exports, the rapidly falling price for coal in the global market began to take it toll. In October 2014 ''Mining Magazine'' reported that the focus of the company had shifted from expanding production to cut costs by improving the productivity of its fleet of haul trucks and excavation operations.<ref> Paul Harris, [http://bit.ly/1F9Trkd “Cerrejon reflects on P-40 expansion”], ‘’Mining Magazine’’, October 17, 2014. (Sub req’d)</ref>
While the expansion project had been predicated on a booming market, the global seaborne thermal coal price fell dramatically. With European coal markets the dominant destination for Cerrejon's coal, the project had been hit hard by a 30 per cent fall in coal prices in the year to early 2015.