<article><p class="lead">Western Australian (WA) iron ore shipments hit a three-year high in the week to 17 June, driven by record exports by Fortescue and Roy Hill and strong output by Rio Tinto ahead of its derailment. </p><p>The four big Pilbara iron ore firms — Rio Tinto, BHP, Fortescue and Roy Hill — loaded vessels with a combined 21.54mn dead weight tonne (dwt) of capacity, up from <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2458751">17.83mn dwt in the week to 10 June</a> and the highest level since early June 2020, according to initial shipping data collated by Argus. The dwt is the maximum capacity of a vessel and overestimates actual shipments by around 5pc.</p><p>Total shipments were 24pc above the one-year rolling average, as Rio Tinto loaded vessels with more than 8mn dwt capacity for the first time in 2023 and the other three also pushed output up ahead of the end of the Australian financial year on 30 June. Both Fortescue and Roy Hill had record weeks, while BHP also came in 19pc above average.</p><p>Rio Tinto has struggled to maintain average shipments in 2023, despite a comparatively benign wet season in the Pilbara. Its push to above 8mn dwt last week culminated in a <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2460695">derailment that stopped deliveries to its Dampier port</a> from late on 17 June, which is likely to weigh on shipments, although Dampier has more space for port stockpiles than the multi-user Port Hedland facility used by BHP, Fortescue and Roy Hill. </p><p>Rio Tinto loaded vessels with 8.12mn dwt capacity in the week to 17 June, up from 5.93mn dwt in the prior week and above its rolling average of 6.65mn dwt. </p><p>Shipments from BHP increased to 6.89mn dwt from 6.24mn dwt in the week to 10 June and were 19pc above average with the firm on track to meet its target of 278mn-290mn t on a 100pc basis for the July 2022-June 2023 fiscal year. Fortescue, which uses the same fiscal year, pushed out above average shipments for each of the past six weeks. It shipped a weekly record 4.69mn dwt in the week to 17 June, up from 4.07mn dwt in the prior week and 25pc above average.</p><p>Roy Hill shipments hit a record 1.84mn dwt, up from 1.58mn dwt the previous week and 45pc above average.</p><p>China was listed as the destination for 83pc of shipments in the latest week, up from 77pc in the previous week and above the average of around 82pc.</p><p>The <i>Argus</i> ICX iron ore index was last assessed at $115.70/dry metric tonne (dmt) cfr Qingdao on a 62pc Fe basis on 19 June, up from $111.35/dmt on 12 June but down from a recent high of $133.40/dmt on 15 March.</p><p class="bylines">By Jo Clarke</p><p><div class="picture"><div><span class="pic_title">WA iron ore loadings</span> <span class="units">(mn dwt)</span></div><img src="https://argus-public-assets-us.s3.amazonaws.com/2023/06/20/waironoreloadings20062023021937.jpg"></div><p><div class="picture"><div><span class="pic_title">Iron ore prices</span> <span class="units">($/dmt)</span></div><img src="https://argus-public-assets-us.s3.amazonaws.com/2023/06/20/ironoreprices20062023021759.jpg"></div></article>
