Record shipments of iron ore in the fourth quarter were not enough for Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue to recover from a train derailment late last year, marking a rare full-year export guidance miss for the Pilbara major.
The miner on Thursday said it shipped 53.7 million tonnes in the three months to the end of June — 10 per cent higher that the same quarter a year earlier — which took full year exports to 191.6mt, just short of the previous year’s 192mt.
It was also outside of Fortescue’s target of between 192mt and 197mt.
Shipments were curtailed by a train derailment on December 30 last year when at least 40 empty wagons left the tracks 150km south of Port Hedland. The miner blamed soaring temperatures which had buckled the tracks.
The derailment cut Fortescue’s transport link to the Herb Elliott Port in Port Hedland, the export gateway for its three iron ore mining hubs.
Fortescue is targeting full-year shipments of between 190mt and 200mt this financial year.
More to come.