In December last year, iron ore shipments from Australia's Port Hedland increased by 19.9 percent compared to November and were up 21.7 percent year on year, reaching 26 million metric tons, beating the previous monthly export record of 22.8 million mt which was set in August 2012.
According to the information released by Port Hedland Port Authority, iron ore shipments made from Port Hedland to China amounted to 20.2 million metric tons in December, increasing by 24.9 percent compared to November and up 21.6 percent compared to the same month of the previous year.
Meanwhile, in the whole of 2012 iron ore shipments by Port Hedland amounted to 251.85 million mt, increasing by 15.9 percent compared to 2011.
Port Hedland handles production from mines owned by BHP Billiton, Atlas Iron and Fortescue Metals Group in the iron ore-rich Pilbara region of Western Australia.