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Nine emergencies and near-misses in Australia's most important export waters have coincided with the WA government-controlled Pilbara Port Authority's decision to ditch a marine pilot contractor in favour of hiring its own people.

Meanwhile, Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson has a handle on the size of the airline's recent computer hack but now faces a harder challenge in a standoff with the cyber crooks who will demand a ransom to return the missing data, writes Eric Johnston.

And the high-profile departures continue at Fortescue with the executive responsible for decarbonising the iron ore heavyweight’s mining operations parting ways just as it ramps up spending on solar farms and battery-powered trucks and other machinery.