A company photo shows the Happy Buccaneer heavy-lift ship elevating Fortescue’s ship loader at Fortescue Metals Group Ltd.’s Anderson Point Port facility in Port Hedland in Western Australia, early this year. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd., building a A$2.7-billion ($2.4- billion) iron-ore project in Australia, rose to a one-month high in Sydney trading after the South China Morning Post reported China may buy a stake in the company. --Bloomberg

PORT HEDLAND—Fortescue Metals Group Ltd., run by Australia’s richest man Andrew Forrest, began loading the first iron ore from its A$2.8-billion ($2.6 billion) Pilbara project for shipment from Western Australia’s Port Hedland to China.

Fortescue Thursday started loading some 170,000 tons of ore, bought by Baosteel, China’s biggest steel producer, aboard the Heng Shan vessel, putting it on target to become the nation’s third-largest exporter. Baosteel will donate proceeds from the first shipment to victims of this week’s China earthquake, Forrest said in Port Hedland Thursday during the loading ceremony.

Forrest’s company, which began working on the Pilbara project in 2003, will ship all its iron ore to China, with Baosteel signing a 10-million-ton-a-year contract. Chinese companies want to secure supplies of the steel-making material after a sixth year of price increases.

The company will, in the next month, complete the last phases of the project’s mine, rail and port operations, with 2 million tons to be shipped in the next four weeks. Perth-based Fortescue plans to eventually increase output to 200 million tons a year.

Fortescue could generate A$3 billion of sales in the 12 months to June 30, 2009, Goldman Sachs JBWere Pty analysts led by Neil Goodwill said in a report dated March 5. That will increase to A$5.4 billion the following year, the analysts said.

Forrest has a net worth of $6.5 billion, according to Forbes magazine. Bloomberg

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SINGAPORE—Neptune Orient Lines Ltd., Southeast Asia’s largest container-shipping company, rose to the highest in almost five months in Singapore trading after first-quarter profit almost tripled on higher freight rates and cargo volume.

PORT HEDLAND—Fortescue Metals Group Ltd., run by Australia’s richest man Andrew Forrest, began loading the first iron ore from its A$2.8-billion ($2.6 billion) Pilbara project for shipment from Western Australia’s Port Hedland to China.

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