By Rhiannon Hoyle and Stephen Bell
SYDNEY--The Pilbara Ports Authority has begun evacuating dozens
of ships from two major Australian iron-ore ports due to the threat
of a possible tropical cyclone developing off Western Australia
state.
On Monday, the port authority said it had started evacuation
procedures at Port Hedland, the world's largest iron-ore export
facility, and the nearby port of Dampier as the government's
weather forecasting agency cautioned a tropical low was gaining
momentum. A port spokeswoman said 45 vessels were being cleared at
Port Hedland, and a further 13 at Dampier. People aren't yet being
evacuated from the sites.
The country's biggest iron-ore miners, including BHP Billiton
Ltd. (BHP.AU) and Rio Tinto PLC (RIO), export cargoes of ore from
the two ports to steel mills in Asia.
Australia's Bureau of Meteorology warned heavy rain and gales
with wind gusts of up to 100 kilometers (62 miles) an hour may
develop along the coastline between Port Hedland and the
north-coast city of Broome later Monday, and said a tropical
cyclone could form.
"We have commenced evacuating our vessels from the inner harbor
in line with evacuation procedures issued by the Pilbara Ports
Authority," a BHP spokesman said in an emailed statement. He said
any material effect the disruption has on shipments would be
reported in the company's quarterly operational report.
Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires