Ships Evacuated From Pilbara Ports Amid Cyclone Threat

   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 [e-mail]

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