Australian iron ore port clears ships as cyclone looms
All port anchorages at the Port of Dampier are expected to be cleared by February 22 at 18:00 local time, to brace for the cyclone that will make landfall in WA on Friday before drifting southwest to the far West Pilbara coast, Mysteel Global noted from the PPA's statement and a forecast by Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM).
Source: BoM
Meanwhile, ships at the Ports of Ashburton, another mega port on the West Pilbara coastline for liquefied natural gas export, will also be cleared before the form of the cyclone.
Nevertheless, Port Hedland, the world's largest iron ore dispatch hub in WA, has yet to issue any warning on vessel clearings or port operation suspension as of press time, Mysteel Global noted.
Also, though the PPA has not specified the time for the resumption of port operations at Dampier and Ashburton, the BoM's latest forecast indicated that the cyclone Lincoln will weaken as it moves over inland on Sunday.
Source: BoM
In fact, the derivatives market of iron ore in China, the top receiver of Australian iron ore, seemed unmoved by news of the cyclone these days, Mysteel Global noted.
China's iron ore futures experienced substantial falls during this week due to the soured market sentiment about the country's steel and iron ore consumption in the short term, as reported.
Such weakness in the futures prices extended so far today, as the Dalian Commodity Exchange's most-traded iron ore contract for May delivery closed the morning session on February 22 lower again at Yuan 897.5/dmt ($124.8/dmt), losing another 1.05% from the settlement price on the prior day.
Written by Lea Li, liye@mysteel.com
Edited by Alyssa Ren, rentingting@mysteel.com
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