China’s Ministry of Transport and the National Development and Reform Commission issued a notice on Thursday, July 2nd on approving berthing of 400,000 DWT Valemaxes at some of Chinese ports.
Specifically, the previously banned very large ore carriers will be able to berth at seven berths in Dagushan port area of Dalian, Caofeidian port area of Tangshan, Dongjiakou port area of Qingdao and Ningbo’s Majishan terminal and Shulanghu terminal.
The notice said that aside to the approved areas, other ports operators are forbidden from receiving the said ships.
The announcement comes anent the arrival of the first Valemax ship, Yuan Zhuo Hai, to Dongjiakou port, Qingdao China, following the three-year ban on these supersized ships imposed by China in 2012 amid environmental concerns.
The lifting of the ban was hinted in February this year, when the Chinese transport ministry issued a circular on the design of 400,000 DWT bulk carries entering Chinese ports amending its previous design layout.
In the same month, Brazilian mining company Vale and China’s bulk carrier specialist Cosco signed a deal on the sale of four very large ore carriers for a total of USD 445 million.
Vale also penned a deal with China Merchants Energy Shipping Co., Ltd. (CMES), a subsidiary of China Merchants Group, to sell four VLOCs to CMES. Yuan Zhuo Hai is one of those four secondhand VLOCs.
The VLOCs will be used to transport Vale’s iron ore from Brazil to China.
“At present, our coastal iron ore shipping terminals are mostly ready, and they will aid the development of China’s iron ore trade growth,” China’s ministry said in a statement.
World Maritime News Staff