Fortescue Metals Group has celebrated the shipment of its one billionth tonne of iron ore at Herb Elliot Port.
Loaded aboard Fortescue’s ore carrier ‘FMG Sophia’, the billionth tonne was shipped to China last week, roughly a decade after the company made its first commercial shipment from Port Hedland to Shanghai Baosteel’s Majishan Port.
Since that first shipment in 2008, 30,600 trains have completed dumping at the Port Hedland and over 5,000 ships have left Fortescue’s Herb Elliot Port.
Fortescue CEO Elizabeth Gaines, who was joined at the celebration by Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Energy and Aboriginal Affairs Reece Whitby, Port Hedland Mayor Camilo Blanco, Fortescue employees and members of the Port Hedland community, congratulated everyone at Fortescue on the significant milestone.
“I would like to thank the Fortescue team, including our contractors and suppliers; one billion tonnes of ore shipped in only a decade is a testament to everyone’s hard work, dedication and innovation,” Ms Gaines said.
Fortescue’s Founder and Chairman, Andrew Forrest thanked everyone at the company for their contribution towards growing Fortescue from a start up to a global leader in the mining industry.
A decade ago, when we shipped our first 180,000 tonnes of ore to China, I said it was a phenomenal achievement of sheer hard work, of guts and grind over scepticism, of character over doubt,” he said.
“The same can be said today as we reach one billion tonnes of ore shipped.”
