Iron ore export volumes earned a 103 per cent increase from 328.8 million tonnes per annum in 2010/11 to 667.6 million tonnes per annum in 2019/20 across PPA’s operations.

PPA general manger of development and trade Lyle Banks said that $324.5 million in capital has been spent at the PPA’s Port of Port Hedland in the five years to 30 June 2020.

Technology including metocean monitoring equipment and simulation training have been credited to the port’s higher capacity.

In October 2020, the Port of Port Hedland achieved a monthly throughput of 47.2 million tonnes, with 47 million tonnes being iron ore exports. This marked an 11 per cent increase from October 2019.

PPA delivered 62.5 million tonnes in October 2020 overall, also representing an increase of 11 per cent from the same period in 2019.

Infrastructure investments including the Hedland Tower, channel risk optimisation project and the channel marker replacement program have set up the next 25 years of growth at the port.

Around $120.8 billion product was exported via PPA ports during 2019/20.

PPA is comprised of the ports of Ashburton, Dampier and Port Hedland in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, which achieved a record throughput of 717.2 million tonnes in 2019/20.