Posted on 02 Feb 2012
Brazil's Vale SA, the world's second-largest mining company, could serve Chinese customers from an iron-ore supply base under construction in Malaysia, bypassing China's port ban on the company's super freighter, a company source told Reuters.
The company official declined to be named. China's transportation ministry said on Tuesday the company's so-called Valemax ships were banned from the country's ports to protect Chinese ocean-freight lines that have been hurt by a downturn in global shipping rates, as well as for safety issues.
The 400,000-deadweight tonne Valemax or “Chinamax” class vessels are among the largest ships afloat.
In the last three months, the Baltic Dry Index a benchmark for the price of shipping dry-bulk goods such as iron-ore, has fallen 65% causing ship-operators revenue to plunge.
Vale's press office in Rio de Janeiro declined comment on the Chinese ban. Vale's US$1.3bil Malaysia distribution centre is designed to hold 60,000 tonnes of ore and serve Australian and Japanese customers.
It is scheduled to open in 2014. Under the Malaysia plan, Valemax and other ore ships will load Vale iron-ore in Brazil and drop it off on the Malaysian coast.
There the ore will be stored until it is reloaded on to smaller ships for the final journey to Asian customers.
