The authority noted that 60.1 million tonnes of ore was shipped from its ports during the month, with exports from the Port Hedland terminal alone at 46.2Mt, up 5% year-on-year.

Total iron ore exports from Port Hedland for the whole of 2017 totalled 497.1Mt, rising 4% from the previous year, according to port data.

Iron ore shipments from Port Hedland to China in December were 39.1Mt, a 5% year-on-year rise, with the total for the year amounting to 419.5Mt. This was also 5% higher than the total 2016 volume.

Other major commodities exported from the Port Hedland terminal include copper concentrate, manganese ore and spodumene.

In December, 21,979t of copper concentrate was shipped, slipping 58% on the year, bringing the annual amount to 351,337t, a 22% year-on-year drop.

Manganese ore volumes for December were 80,000t, increasing 81% from the same month in 2016, although the total for the year fell 21% from 2016 to 538,215t.

The port only started giving shipment volumes of spodumene in April, with 425,896t exported in December and 2.4Mt shipped during the April-December period.