Pilbara Ports Authority has begun the New Year with several shipping records achieved in recent weeks, including new monthly throughput records across its ports, record tonnage on a single tide and record number of vessel visits to Port Hedland.

Pilbara Ports sets new shipping records ahead of New Year
Image courtesy of Pilbara Ports

Pilbara Ports Authority achieved a record combined monthly throughput of 63.8 million tonnes (Mt) for the month of December 2017, an increase of 6% from the same month in 2016. This includes a record monthly iron ore export total of 60.1Mt.

The Port of Port Hedland achieved a record monthly throughput of 47.1Mt, an increase of 6% from the previous year.

Iron ore exports for the month at the Port of Port Hedland totaled 46.1Mt, an increase of 5% on last year.

The Port of Dampier also achieved a record monthly throughput of 16.7Mt, an increase of 5% from the previous year.

Imports totaled 78,000 tonnes, a decrease of 6% from the same time last year.

The month of December also saw numerous shipping records set at the Port of Port Hedland, including a new record tonnage on a single tide achieved on 27 December 2017.

A total of 1,589,061 tonnes of cargo sailed out on eight vessels, beating the previous record set in Febraury 2016 by 77,084 tonnes.

The port also set a new tonnage record of 2,183,611 tonnes over a 24-hour period, with six vessels exporting a total of 1,043,838 tonnes (14 December 2017) and another six vessels exporting a total of 1,139,773 tonnes (15 December 2017).

A record number of vessel visits was also reported for the month, with a total of 272 visits.

Source: Pilbara Port