Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG) shipped a record 14.77 million tonnes of iron ore in the December quarter of 2011, a 19% increase on the previous quarter.
This included a December 22 shipment of 248,106 tonnes, the largest single cargo ever to leave Port Hedland Port.
Fortescue’s shipping figure for the quarter trumped its forecast 13.5-14 million tonnes.
The increase is partly due to larger vessels being chartered to optimise the outload rates in order to utilise state of the art product handling circuits.
During the month of December, the average cargo size was 183,000 tonnes, compared with 171,000 tonnes in December 2010.
Ore processed during the December quarter reached 13.77 million tonnes, up 8% on the September quarter and a 44% increase on the 9.59 million tonnes processed in the previous corresponding period.
Shipping was not Fortescue’s only area of success for the quarter, with the company reducing its average C1 cost to US$46.43 per wet metric tonne, down from $49.78 in the September quarter.
However, the lower costs were offset by volatility in the global commodity markets. The iron ore price fell from about US$170 per dry metric tonne in early October to a low of US$116 per dry metric tonne in late October, before settling at an average of US$138 per dry metric tonne in December.
Overall for the December quarter, sales settled at an average of US$122 per dry metric tonne.