Andrew Forrest says ‘you’ve got to hold back tears’ as Fortescue notches up double century iron ore milestone

Fortescue has shipped 200 million tonnes of iron ore for first time in a single fiscal year to reach a milestone that made Andrew Forrest “hold back tears”. The mining major founded by Mr Forrest reached its historic feat on the eve of the 2026 financial year’s end and finished slightly above the midpoint of its iron ore shipment guidance. Fortescue was targeting exports of between 195Mt and 205Mt for FY2026. Numerous analysts were tipping a result at the lower end of the target band after projected production at Fortescue’s troubled Iron Bridge magnetite mine was revised downwards in April by about 2Mt. Fortescue began shipping its Pilbara iron ore from Port Hedland in May 2008. In its maiden year of production, Fortescue’s ore carriers were making about 140 trips overseas a year. They now do at least seven times more. “We did about 140 ships a year. Now if you can imagine, 30,000 Olympic swimming pools a year, full of iron ore, in what is over 1000 ships a year,” Mr Forrest, Fortescue’s executive chair, told The West Australian. “We’ve set the targets and we’ve worked for it and we’ve gone through blood sweat and tears, but when you actually hit it, from where we started, you’ve got to hold back tears. “Fortescue embodies that Australian dream, that the impossible, the bridge too far, the mountain top too high, whatever it is, Fortescue embodies that you can achieve it, that it can be done.” Fortescue has so far shipped more than 2.5 billion tonnes of iron ore since inception, making Mr Forrest and his separated wife — Nicola — among Australia’s richest people. Andrew and Nicola own about 37 per cent of the iron ore giant. “We have delivered huge value to shareholders, opened up the Pilbara and built one of Australia’s greatest business success stories,” Fortescue metals chief executive Dino Otranto said. “From our first shipment to now, our Fortescue teams have shown what can happen when you stay nimble, move fast, back your people and never, ever give up. “We’ve come a long way and we’re not slowing down. Fortescue still has some way to go to surpass WA’s two most prolific iron ore miners — Rio Tinto and BHP. Rio produces about 330Mtpa and BHP about 290Mtpa. Fortescue has a licence to export 210Mtpa through its Port Hedland shipping hub. Katie Charuga, Fortescue’s director of integrated operations, said the miner was harnessing artificial intelligence to reach its 210Mtpa licence limit. “The use of AI technologies to help us load more efficiently has been really helpful to increase our capacity,” she said. “Deploying small amounts of incremental capital in the processing plants to enable more efficient processing is also helping.” But Ms Charuga said the 200Mpta milestone should not be taken for granted. “Shipping more than 200 million tonnes in a year takes enormous collaboration and discipline across every part of our supply chain,” she said. “Every tonne mined, processed, railed and shipped depends on our Fortescue family working safely together to deliver to our customers.”