Pilbara Ports Authority (PPA) has wasted no time in getting the Port of Port Hedland back up and running since last week’s temporary closure due to Tropical Cyclone Ilsa.

Over the last 24-hours, the port has smashed its previous throughput record, achieving 2.817 million tonnes, with 15 vessel movements.

PPA’s Chief Executive Officer Roger Johnston said this was the largest 24-hour throughput on record for Port Hedland.

“This amount of throughput has never been achieved before, and is down to the hard work of our people, who quickly got the port up and running after the passing of Tropical Cyclone Ilsa last week,” Mr Johnston said.

“I’ve never heard of a port bouncing back as well as we did after a closure, and I thank the team for their outstanding efforts.”

Tropical Cyclone Ilsa crossed the Pilbara coast as a Category 5 system around midnight on Thursday 13 April 2023. It crossed approximately 120 kilometres east north east of Port Hedland.

PPA started to close the Port of Port Hedland in the early hours of Wednesday 12 April, with all berths and anchorages cleared by 1pm Thursday 13 April.

After safety inspections, the port was re-opened at 11am on Friday 14 April – three hours after the all clear had been given.

The previous 24-hour throughput record for the Port of Port Hedland of 2.573 million tonnes was achieved in December 2021.

In 2021-22 the port had a total annual throughput of 561 million tonnes with 6,689 vessel movements.
Source: Pilbara Ports Authority