Australia's Port Hedland sees record iron ore shipments in May

Melbourne (Platts)--7Jun2012
Iron ore exports from Australia appear to be unaffected by the subdued steel sector in China with shipments from Port Hedland in Western Australia reaching record levels in May, according to data released by the Port Hedland Port Authority on Thursday.

The data showed that 22.5 million mt of iron ore were shipped from the port in May, up 9% from the previous highest export figure of 20.7 million mt in April. Total iron ore exports were 24% higher than the 18.2 million mt exported in May last year.

ron ore exports to China of 17.4 million mt in May were up 18% on April's 14.8 million mt, and up almost 40% year on year. Shipments to China from Port Hedland, which is used primarily by BHP Billiton, Fortescue Metals Group and Atlas Iron -- also achieved a record in May, beating the 16.6 million mt shipped in December last year. Rio Tinto exports its iron ore from Cape Lambert and Dampier ports, south of Port Hedland in the Pilbara region.

On Tuesday, the PHPA said it had broken the record for the amount of iron ore shipped in a single tide movement with 947,775 mt loaded onto five Capesize vessels, some 33,000 mt more than the previous record in July 2011.

--Paul Bartholomew,
--Edited by E Shailaja Nair,