Port Hedland
World's largest bulk export port: 561M tonnes/year, 40% of global seaborne iron ore. BHP, Rio, Fortescue, Roy Hill. $1.4B BHP expansion 2025. $4B HBI plant approved—may double export revenue.
Port Hedland moves more iron ore than anywhere else on earth. The world's largest bulk export port shipped 561 million tonnes in 2021/22—roughly 40% of global seaborne iron ore. In October 2025, throughput hit the highest monthly level since records began in 2010: 49.5 million tonnes.
Four mining giants dominate: BHP, Rio Tinto, Fortescue, and Roy Hill. BHP alone exported 283 million tonnes in 2023-24. Roy Hill operates a fully integrated supply chain—mine, 344-kilometre railway, and dedicated port berths—producing 60 million tonnes annually. The infrastructure exists to serve China's steel industry, which consumes most of what leaves the port.
The scale drives investment. BHP's $1.4 billion Port Debottlenecking Project 2 (construction beginning December 2025) adds a sixth car dumper and additional conveyors to maintain 305 million tonnes annual capacity. The Red Hawk project, launching late 2025, adds 46 million tonnes of reserves with a 23-year mine life.
The $4 billion Port Hedland Iron Project may transform the equation. Approved by the WA Environmental Protection Authority in 2025, the facility will convert raw ore into hot briquetted iron (HBI)—a value-added product worth significantly more than raw material. Processing 3.5 million tonnes of ore into 2 million tonnes of HBI annually could, analysts suggest, eventually double Australia's iron ore export revenue.
Port Hedland's strategic importance is geographic: the Pilbara's iron ore deposits lie within trucking distance of deep-water port infrastructure.
By 2026, Port Hedland tests whether adding value before export can extract more wealth from the same iron ore.