DiNo's Travels Around Australia - 2014/2015/16/17: Day 92 - The Port of Port Hedland and Pretty Pool

After our big day yesterday we did not stray far from "home" today, figuratively speaking. We took a harbour cruise on the workboat which services the needs of sailors when their ships are in port. For only the last five weeks, the Seafarer's Centre has been allowing the general public, for a fee, to ride on the workboat which picks up sailors wishing to come ashore. The boat passes by each ship and any sailors wishing to come ashore wait at the head of the gangplank until the boat comes alongside. They are then taken back to shore, to do shopping, see the sights, contact families or anything else they may require. We were impressed with the organisation of the service. They take 3500 sailors per month through their system. It is the biggest of the six Seafarers Centres in Australia. They even sold milk powder or baby formula because of the recent milk scare in China. Our cruise picked up about 15 seamen and two seawomen and we were greeted everywhere with waves and smiles from the sailors on the ships. The cruise took about 90 minutes and we saw 12-15 huge ships in port but sadly did not see one leaving or berthing. This was a really interesting morning.

On our return to shore we headed for "Pretty Pool". This is a series of saltwater pools in an inlet at the northern end of the beach at Port Hedland. Unfortunately the tide was out so we did not see the pools at their best.

Some trivia:

There are 647 road trains with four trailers delivering ore to various ore dumps around the port every day. These are from local mines
The rail system brings in 22x3.2km long trains per day each with around 300 (?) carriages.
It takes 5 hours to unload one train
There are 16 berths active currently, BHPB 8, Fortescue Metals Group 4 and Port Hedland Port Authority 4. More wharves are under construction
Iron ore, salt, copper, manganese and chromite are exported from Port Hedland. General cargo and fuel are imported
At sea 16km out are 25 or so waiting that you can see, but beyond your sight there are usually another 20-25.
Vessels are loaded at a rate of 11,000t/hr so they have a 30-36 hour turnaround, often tide dependent.
80-90% of the ore goes to China
The biggest ship to enter port loaded 270,000t but the average is 200,000 to 250,000 tonnes.

However one looks at it, this is a big port and it has been a privilege and an education to see it. Time prevented our touring the BHPB facilities here but we will leave that for another day. They don't run tours every day.