BHP has completed a major rebuild of car dumper 3 (CD3) at its Port Hedland operations, marking a significant maintenance milestone for its Western Australia Iron Ore (WAIO) business.
As one of five car dumpers operating across BHP’s Nelson Point and Finucane Island sites, CD3 plays a critical role in ensuring the smooth flow of iron ore from pit to port.
The extensive renewal project underscored the immense scale and precision required to keep the company’s export operations running at full capacity.
At the heart of the effort was one of the Southern Hemisphere’s most powerful cranes, the Tadano CC88, nicknamed Rubino in honour of the late WA businessman and longtime Monadelphous board chair John Rubino.
Contracted through Monadelphous, the crane boasts an enormous 1600-tonne load capacity – the equivalent of lifting three Boeing 747s – and relies on 1155 tonnes of counterweight to handle its heavy-duty workload.
With Rubino taking on the heavy lifting, teams replaced ageing rotary cells and critical electrical components with a newly designed single tandem cell. The precision operation combined cutting-edge engineering with meticulous planning.
BHP head of asset projects WAIO, Simon Mollica, said the project was a powerful reminder of the sheer scale of the Pilbara’s infrastructure.
“Standing next to one of these rotary cells really puts the scale of what we do into perspective – it’s absolutely massive. Seeing Rubino lift it into place makes you realise just how much muscle it takes to keep the Pilbara firing,” he said.
“The team did an incredible job – it’s the skills, the planning and the teamwork that comes together to make it all happen.”
The mega-maintenance effort has extended CD3’s operational life by another decade. BHP said lessons from the rebuild will inform the upcoming Port Debottlenecking =project 2 (PDP2), which includes a new sixth car dumper (CD6) and supporting conveyors.
The $1.4 billion ($US900 million) investment aims to sustain BHP’s medium-term iron ore production guidance of 305 million tonnes per year as the miner prepares for further infrastructure renewals beginning in the 2028-29 financial year (FY29).
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