By 2007, annual Chinese steel production had risen to 489 million metric tones (mmt), a 350 per cent increase in ten years. In 2008, total production by the end of August had reached 351 mmt, an increase of 8.6 per cent on 2007. Such production levels mean that the Chinese steel industry is easily the biggest consumer of iron ore in the world (Stopford,2008; World Steel Association, 2008). Rapid growth in iron ore imports has created serious logistics problems