Australian port authority Pilbara Ports resumed operations at Port Hedland at 12pm local time (4am GMT) on 8 February because Cyclone Mitchell passed the area. Port Hedland is a major iron ore export hub in Western Australia (WA).
Pilbara Ports has not reopened the ports of Ashburton, Cape Preston West, Dampier, and Varanus Island, it said on 8 February. It cleared all berths at the export hubs, which handle LNG and iron ore exports, because of expected cyclonic weather on 6 February.
Cyclone Mitchell has passed WA's iron ore-rich Pilbara region and moved to the southern part of the state, according to Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BoM).
Australian producers shipped 51mn t of ore out of Port Hedland in December 2025, up by 9.1pc on the year because of increased Chinese and South Korean shipments.
No ships have left Port Hedland since 5 February, when the Liberian-flagged Marine Claudia left with 109,883t of iron ore lumps, data from marine tracker Kpler show. Some 15 ships are currently at Port Hedland.
The Japanese-flagged Midnight Dream is expected to leave Port Hedland at around 9:50pm local time today, loaded with 173,986t of BHP ore, data from Kpler show.
