We had a “sunset tour” to see the sights- all big dusty industrial stuff. Next morning we were on the water with the ‘Mission to Seafarers who give emotional, spiritual and some monetary support the seafarers stuck for weeks on their ships (especially now due to Covid-19). This was interesting and gave an appreciation of the size of the ore carriers up close. There are actually three sizes, Cape class largest at 350m, Panamax smaller but can get through the Panama Canal and the Suez class.

Actually with a cargo capacity of 400,000T and iron ore say at $100/T each ship’s cargo is worth $40,000,000! Earlier this year it was at $200/ T! Serious money.

Here’s a few facts:

The Port of Port Hedland is the is the world’s largest bulk export port and handles the following commodities:

• Ammonium
• Fuel oils
• Iron ore
• Lithium
• Project Cargo, Break Bulk and General Cargo
• Salt

19 docks (expanding to 20 next year) capable of berthing one bulk ore carrier each and owned by the major mining companies of Rio Tinto, Fortescue Mining Group , Roy Hill mining and a couple of Port owned docks for the smaller mining companies and cargo facilities.

Ships are 350m long and 60m wide – that’s BIG.

The channel to the ocean is 40km long and has been dredged to 14.5m through limestone

On a 5.5m tide they can bring the ships in 5 at a time and due to tidal race and cross currents they need to slide through the channel which itself is only 180m wide leaving only 45m clearance each side.

Each ship movement requires a Pilot and 4 x 7000hp tugs. Pilots are helicoptered out to the empty ships entering the Port (because when they are empty they can be up to 25m above the water making boarding from the sea level rather difficult. Departing ships pilots are returned to the dock by boat because the fully loaded boat is now much lower in the water.

Empty ships can enter the port up to 2 hours prior/post the low tide; fully loaded ships must leave 2 hours either side of the high tide and then can have a minimum of 250mm under the keel – that’s small!

Loading takes approximately 24hrs and the Port works 24/7, 365 days per year. The only time the Port stops is when a cyclone is imminent and that is when they make all the ships leave port and all the pilot boats are taken ashore until all clear.

The commodities reach the port via each companies trains/train lines or via road trains from the mines in the Pilbara. Each day some 30 x 268 car trains (powered by 4 locos) deliver iron ore to dump sheds which rotate two cars (135T each) at a time every 30 seconds dumping the ore onto conveyor belts traveling up to 5km to the waiting ships.

Each day 300 quad trailer road trains with 29 axles (that’s a lot of tyres!) bring the ore from those mines which don’t have their own trains.

High bridge conveyers and loaders litter the skyline and oh the dust! Everything is covered in a layer of red dust and actually there are areas where the housing is being resumed by the Government due to health concerns.