The Bahamas-registered ‘Clipper Trader’ arrived at Zhangjiagang port on 2 November, carrying 27,804 tons of iron ore worth US$3.66m. This was the port’s first ever shipment of iron ore from Honduras.

The rising price of iron ore on the international market has led local steel plants such as ShaSteel and YongSteel to source cheaper sources of the commodity than that supplied by the likes of Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and CVRD.