The Vale Beijing a dry-bulk carrier is loaded with 384,300 tonnes of high-grade iron ore, enough to produce the steel for nearly 3-1/2 Golden Gate Bridges. The ship is one of a new super-large class of dry-bulk carriers that the Brazilian miner had built to cut the cost of transporting its main product to China, Vale's biggest market and the world's No. 1 steelmaker.
The ship, which was delivered to its Korean owner in November from a Chinese shipyard, was having ballast-tank problems, the ship's local agency said. As a result it was unable to leave the Ponto da Madeira Port near Sao Luis, Brazil in the country's northeast.
The so-called Valemax sized ships are part of the miner's plan to cut the shipping advantage that its main Australian rivals Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton
have in reaching the Chinese ore market. Australia, while much of its ore is of lower grade than Vale's, is thousands of nautical miles closer to China than Brazil.
But Vale's new fleet of very large ore carriers (VLOC) is running into head winds. This is the second Valemax to have experienced problems.
The Vale Brasil, the first 400,000 dead-weight carrier of the company to carrier ore from Brazil to China, had to be rerouted to Italy after Chinese port officials refused to allow the vessel to berth.
The Panamanian registered Vale Beijing was expected to depart on Sunday morning after loading ore since Friday, Vale's Website said. STX Pan Ocean out of South Korea is the charter company of the carrier.
The local O Globo newspaper said on Monday that there was a crack in the hull of the Vale Beijing. Vale is also shipping ore via the Vale Italia and Vale China VLOCs. (Reuters)
