BHP Billiton focuses on inner harbor capacity expansion at Port Hedland

Australia-based BHP Billiton has announced that it has been focusing on maximizing its capacity from the inner harbor at Port Hedland in Western Australia since preliminary studies have shown the potential for its Western Australia iron ore operations to ship substantially more than the current 240 million mt per year from the inner harbor.
 
Western Australia's Minister for Transport and Port Hedland Port Authority have granted the right, subject to state approval processes, to develop two additional berths in the inner harbor at Port Hedland.  These berths do not come with guaranteed shipping capacity beyond BHP Billiton's current 240 million mt per year throughput allocation.
 
BHP has slowed down its works on outer harbor development including rail and stockpile facilities, a 32 kilometer shipping channel and a four kilometer jetty offshore of Finucane Island, adding that additional expansion in the inner harbor means delay in many of these investments.