THE great bulk ports of the Pilbara saw a slow month for cargo in October.

Pilbara Ports Authority reported a total monthly cargo throughput of 61.3 million tonnes last month. This was a decrease of 2% compared with the same month last year, and a decrease of 3% on September 2021.

Zooming in to Port Hedland, PPA reported it had seen a total throughput of 47.4 million tonnes last month, of which 46.7 million tonnes was iron ore exports. This was in line with the port’s throughput in October 2020 and a decrease of about 1% on September 2021.

Imports through the Port of Port Hedland totalled 190,000 tonnes, a decrease of 2% compared with October 2020.

The Port of Dampier saw a total throughput of 13.2 million tonnes, an 8% decrease from October 2020.

The one metric that saw any increase was imports through the Port of Dampier. Imports through the port totalled 112,000 tonnes, an increase of 39% on October 2020, and a 40% increase on the month immediately previous.