BHP Shipping was an Australian

ship transport Maritime transport (or ocean transport) and hydraulic effluvial transport, or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people ( passengers) or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by sea has been widely used throu ...

and shipbuilding arm of

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

. BHP Shipping traces its origins to 1915 when BHP chartered the SS ''Emerald Wings'' to transport its first load of iron ore from

Whyalla Whyalla was founded as "Hummocks Hill", and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Gawler and along with Port Pirie and Port Augusta i ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

on 19 January 1915. In 1917, shipping agent William Scott Fell & Co arranged for BHP to purchase a share in the steamer SS ''Koolonga''. BHP purchased the ship outright on 30 July 1918 and it was renamed SS ''Iron Monarch''. The BHP Shipping Department was formed on that date, headed up by who had previously assisted in the shipping arrangements for the 1909

Nimrod Expedition The ''Nimrod'' Expedition of 1907–1909, otherwise known as the British Antarctic Expedition, was the first of three successful expeditions to the Antarctic led by Ernest Shackleton and his second expedition to the Antarctic. Its main target, ...

and served on the Advisory Committee to the 1917 Ross Sea Party rescue. Captain William Halley, former master of the ''Emerald Wings'', became Marine Superintendent of the Shipping Department. BHP Shipping was established as a subsidiary shipping line for the parent company in 1921. As early as 1923 the company considered building its own ships but instead decided to manufacture steel hull plates, a major customer being the Commonwealth Shipping Line. However, in 1939 the company accepted a government request to establish a shipbuilding facility at Whyalla. By 1940 the BHP Whyalla Shipyard had five slipways capable of building ships up to 15,000 GT. The first ship constructed at the shipyard was HMAS ''Whyalla''. Between 1941 and 1978, the shipyard produced 63 vessels, of which 15 were built as BHP property. BHP shipping also chartered additional vessels constructed in Whyalla. Following World War 2, BHP Shipping acquired more bulk carries to carry iron ore, coal and steel products. The ships increased in size up to the 1980s when demand for steel began to decline. From that time some of the ships were used to carry coal, coke and iron ore to export customers. In December 1983, BHP Shipping was absorbed into BHP Transport Ltd. BHP Shipping transferred wharves and shore operations to each refinery site ahead of the demerger of

BlueScope BlueScope Steel Limited is an Australian flat product steel producer that was spun-off from BHP Billiton in 2002. History BlueScope was formed when BHP Billiton spun-off its steel assets on 15 July 2002 as BHP Steel. It was renamed BlueSco ...

in 2002. BlueScope also inherited several of the ships. The remaining fleet is part of BHP Transport and Logistics Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of

Fleet summary

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:BHP Shipping BHP Shipping companies of Australia Ships of BHP Shipping