Rio Tinto ready to build Simandou after almost 30 years of setbacks
Simandou has faced delays due to legal disputes, political changes, and the challenges of building a 600 km rail and port infrastructure.
Brazilian mining giant Vale said on Tuesday it rerouted 391,000 tonnes of iron ore, its first cargo aboard a new class of giant bulk carriers, to Italy from its original destination of China.
The cargo is being shipped aboard the Vale Brasil, the world’s largest dry-bulk vessel, a ship designed to reduce the cost of shipping the main steel ingredient to China. Despite the rerouting Vale said the so-called Valemax carriers will be able to enter three Chinese ports.
“The alteration (of the destination) is part of the flexibility in Vale’s integrated logistics policy that allows Vale to reallocate the destination of exports, based on the needs of the market,” the company said in an emailed statement.
The northern Chinese ports of Dalian and Dongjiakou, and Majishan, near Shanghai, have the capacity to receive the so-called Valemaxes that are able to haul 400,000 metric-ton cargoes, the company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. China is the world’s largest steel producer and iron-ore user.
