Vale S.A. (Vale) and China Merchants Group signed in Beijing on yesterday a contract by which Vale will lease ten very large ore carriers to be built by China Merchants for a period of 25 years. The VLOCs will be used to transport Vale’s iron ore from Brazil to China.
This contract can be viewed as an addendum to the existing cooperation contract signed
between the two companies on September 12, by which four existing very large ore carriers of 400,000 tonnes deadweight owned and operated by Vale were transferred to Cosco and chartered by Vale on a long term basis for 25 years.