Fortescue Metals Group’s conveyor belt delivers iron ore to the carrier Heng Shan in Port Hedland, Australia, in this May 15 file photo. Fortescue, based in Perth, started loading its first commercial shipment of iron ore from its A$2.8-billion ($2.6-billion) Pilbara project Thursday at Port Hedland. It will ship 170,000 metric tons to Shanghai-based Baosteel, China’s biggest steel producer, as part of a 10-million-ton-a-year contract. --Bloomberg

MELBOURNE—Fortescue Metals Group Ltd., controlled by Australia’s richest man Andrew Forrest, may ship as much as 23 million metric tons of iron ore this year after completing its first three shipments this month.

“We’ve had three ships out to date and there are more lining up over the next several days,” Fortescue’s commercial director Russell Scrimshaw said Thursday by phone from Perth. “We are through commissioning and into ramp-up so the pace is really picking up tremendously.”

Fortescue this month completed the first commercial shipment to China’s Baosteel Group Corp. from its A$2.8-billion ($2.7-billion) project in Western Australia state. It may ship between 20 million and 30 million tons this year before increasing output in 2009, Forrest said in April.

“We are still on track to be doing probably at the lower end of that bracket, probably 22 million to 23 million tons by year-end,” Fortescue’s executive director of operations, Graeme Rowley, said Thursday by phone. (Bloomberg)

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MELBOURNE—Fortescue Metals Group Ltd., controlled by Australia’s richest man Andrew Forrest, may ship as much as 23 million metric tons of iron ore this year after completing its first three shipments this month.

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MUMBAI—Shipping Corp. of India Ltd., the nation’s biggest sea carrier, will borrow $1.3 billion to purchase more vessels to meet rising trade in the country.