The authorities at Port Hedland, the port located in the Pilbara region in Western Australia and which is used by Australian iron ore miners BHP Billiton Ltd and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd to ship iron ore from Australia, have said that iron ore exports from the port declined by 14 percent in April, 2009.
According to the Port Hedland authorities, shipments totaled 11.3 million mt in April, down by 14 percent from 13.1 million mt in the previous month, and up from 10.6 million mt in the year-ago period.
In addition, 67 vessels arrived at the port in April, compared with 78 in March.