The Townsville port is on the cusp of experiencing growth in its iron ore shipments, with the first shipment of two trial batches set to leave the port tomorrow bound for China's Beilun Port, near Shanghai.

Northern Stevedoring Services is currently loading the first shipment of iron ore lumps worth millions of dollars for Mount Moss Mining, a subsidiary of Curtain Bros industrial firm based in Townsville and owned by Sir Mick Curtain.

The iron ore shipment amounting to about 50,000 tonnes, is worth approximately $7.5 million on the spot market, and will be shipped to China inside the hull of Maritime Cuhee.

The ore deposits at Mt. Moss, about 150 km north and west of Townsville, is projected to have open pit reserves of up to 1.4 million tonnes of magnetite produce. Curtain Bros certainly hopes this first batch shipped to China will only be the first among many from the Townsville port.

Northern Stevedoring Services has been tapped to provide handling services and materials to stockpile, receive, and load the products for shipment.

"The team has been working tirelessly for over a month to ensure that the operation at the port has been managed well, in line with the highest levels of safety and environmental standards," Todd Emmert, general manager of NSS said.