Port Hedland was closed down early yesterday morning due to potentially rough seas associated with category-four Cyclone Laurence, the port authority said.
Port Hedland Harbour Master Lindsay Copeman said while the storm was not forecast to come close to the port, the decision had been taken to close the port as a precaution.
All ships that had been in port have now gone offshore until the port authority is happy that conditions have returned to normal after the storm passes, he said.
BHP, the world’s third biggest exporter of iron ore, and Fortescue Metals Group export all of the iron ore from their mines in the Pilbara through Port Hedland. BHP said it expected there could be some interruptions to its iron ore operations as a result of the storm.
“We expect that there may be some production interruption at some operations due to heavy rainfall, but otherwise we are mainly keeping watch on the cyclone’s path at this stage,” a BHP spokeswoman said.
