Goodness, but Australia’s Port Hedland has had another busy year. The Pilbara, Western Australian shipping terminal once again broke records for iron ore shipments both to China and globally, Kallanish notes.

December cargoes to China once again saw new highs with shipments grossing 37,397,599 tonnes during the month. The average daily shipment volume to China was also the highest ever from the port at 1,206,374t. This was 16% higher than December shipments in 2015 and 18% higher than in 2014.

The China effect also meant that total iron ore shipments from the port also soared to a new all-time monthly high at 43,947,372t, beating the previous record set in August 2016. The average total global volume shipped/day also hit a new peak of 1,417,338t.

Iron ore shipments to Korea also ended the year strongly and above 3 million tonnes for the fifth successive month at 3,294,354t. Total exports of 37.6 million tonnes in 2016 were 25.8% higher than those in 2015 and yes, another new record for the port. Cargoes to Japan stayed below the 2 million tonne level for the sixth successive month at 1,742,369t in December. Total 2016 Japanese shipments remained flat year-on-year.

The port handles iron ore shipments for BHP Billiton, Fortescue Metals and Roy Hill.