Valemax called China half empty to meet regulations

The 400,00 dwt VLOC was the first Valemax to call in China since the country banned the giant ships from its ports. The only previous call by a Valemax was the chartered-in 388,000 dwt Berge Everest at the Port of Dalian in December 2011, in January 2012 the Chinese authorities banned bulkers of over 300,000 dwt calling at its ports over safety concerns.

Vale's fleet of giant ore carriers were designed to introduce economies of scale and better help the Brazilian mining company compete with its Australian rivals, whose iron ore exports have a much shorter distance to travel to reach ore-hungry China.

José Carlos Martins, executive director of ferrous at Vale, pointed out that valemaxes are received elsewhere in the world, with new ports opened in Japan and the Philippines as well as discussions underway in Korea.

For exports to China, Valemaxes currently call at floating transshipment stations to offload their cargoes to smaller vessels authorised to call in Chinese ports.

Martins referred to Vale Malaysia's visit to China as an important step in a longer march, adding that the valemax strategy is "developing very well."

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