China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES) and Vale have confirmed a deal for the latter to sell four of its 400,000 dwt VLOCs to the former under a deal worth $448m.

A fully laden 400,000-dwt VLOC has called at Dongjiakou at the Chinese port of Qingdao on 25 July, putting an end to restrictions by the authorities against the berthing of the giant ore carriers.

China has officially ended its earlier restrictions on denying valemaxes to call at Chinese ports, after it released on a statement on Thursday saying that seven iron ore berths will be allowed to accommodate the 400,000-dwt valemax bulker carriers.

A 400,000-dwt valemax, owned by China Ore Shipping, has arrived off the coast of China’s Qingdao on Tuesday and is expected to call at Dongjiakou port, local reports said, signalling an end to earlier opposition voices from China to disallow...

China Cosco Holdings and China Shipping Development Co (CSDC) have agreed to jointly establish a Singapore joint venture to focus on iron ore transportation business and other dry bulk shipping related work.

Brazilian miner Vale has sold four Valemax VLOCs to Cosco, and has moved forward on a plan to sell four units to China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES).

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, China’s biggest privately-owned shipyard, has expressed interest to bid for the tenders to construct very large ore carriers (VLOCs), its executive chairman Ren Yuanlin said.

China Cosco Holdings has stayed in the red in the first quarter, and is seeking progress on a transportation agreement with Brazil’s Vale on the very large ore carriers (VLOCs).

Greece's Onassis Group has now acquired three modern former Today Makes Tomorrow (TMT) combined ore and oil carriers for conversion into straight VLCCs for an investment estimated to be around $240m.

As China moves towards ending a three-year ban on 400,000 dwt valemaxes from docking at its ports there are mixed reactions to how great the impact will be.