Vale Brasil, the largest ore carrier in the world, executed its first unloading operation in July. The vessel docked at the Port of Taranto in Italy, where it unloaded 400,000 metric tons of iron ore from Carajás, Pará, to be consumed by steel company Ilva SpA, which has been a Vale customer and partner for four decades.
Besides being capable of transporting up to 400,000 metric tons, Vale Brasil stands out for being the cleanest ship in the world. In May, in Oslo, Norway, the vessel was given the Nor-Shipping Clean Ship Award for reducing carbon emissions per metric ton of ore transported by 35% compared with a traditional ship of around 200,000 metric tons.
This reduction is due to the use of more modern equipment that uses less diesel. The Nor-Shipping Conference is one of the world’s biggest shipping events, organized by DNV (Det Norske Veritas) every two years.
Investment in shipping
Ordered from a shipyard in South Korea, Vale Brasil has a capacity of 400,000 metric tons and is 362 meters long and 65 meters wide. It is the first of seven ships ordered by Vale from the South Korean shipyard, for a total investment of US$748 million.
These new ships will bring greater efficiency to the logistics operations between the company’s maritime terminals in Brazil and its Asian customers. The ore carriers have high safety standards and will contribute to reducing seaborne iron ore transport costs for steel companies.