(Reuters) - Australian miner Fortescue delivered increased third-quarter iron ore shipments, outperforming the year-ago period that had been hampered by a train derailment.

The uptick in iron ore shipments comes despite Fortescue, the world's fourth largest iron ore miner, facing significant weather disruptions during the third quarter, including a five-day closure of the port of Port Hedland.

Fortescue, which is chaired by its billionaire founder Andrew Forrest, posted quarterly iron shipments of 46.1 million metric tons (mt), compared with 43.3 million mt reported a year earlier.   

That was largely in line with a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 46.8 mt.