The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) approved unlimitedstoppages of 24 hours, 48 hours and seven days, the Fair Work Commission said.
The MUA represents deckhands at Teekay Shipping(Australia) which is contracted by BHPBillitonto run tugboat operations at the port.
Deckhands on the tugs at theworld’s largest iron ore export facility have been campaigning for betterconditions over the past two months.
Permission to strike onlylasts for 30 days, so if strikes are to occur, they will likely happen beforethe first half of June.
Two other unions, which represent the engineers and masters, are also balloting workers on possible action.
“If operations aresuspended, Australia’s iron ore exports are significantly impacted. We estimatethis will cost suppliers who ship out of Port Hedland around $100m a day,” aspokesman for BHP Billiton said.
China’s iron oreimports climbed to 83.4mt in April from 74mt in March, according to customsadministration data.
Earlierthis month the Port Hedland Port Authority reported that exports through theport in April were 33% higher than in April 2013.
“Ironore volumes out of Port Hedland bound for China has increased 50% year-on-yearto 28.9mt, accounting for 83% of the total volumes in April,” said ArcticSecurities analystErik Nikolai Stavseth.
“Chinese iron ore import has been increasing onthe back of low iron ore prices, which has incentivized the Chinese to ramp upimports.”
Nearlyall of Australia’s near 400mt of iron ore exports are shipped from Port Hedlandand the neighbouring Port of Dampier.
BHPBilliton and Fortescue, Australia’s second and third largest iron ore producersrespectively, both use Hedland to ship iron ore.
Ironore is Australia’s most lucrative export with the Bureau for Resources andEnergy Economics predicting the commodity would be worth AUD 78.5bn ($72.8bn)to Australia this year.
