The Ukrainian mining and steel producing company Metinvest Holding (Metinvest) has announced that in January 2010 it exported 894,000 mt of iron ore concentrate by sea using panamax and capesize class vessels.
"Iron ore shipments by sea in such volumes is an absolute record for Ukraine," Alexander Vilkul, honorary director of Metinvest's iron ore division, commented.
Accordingly, in January this year, the major part of the iron ore concentrate was shipped by capesize vessels, including the 183,316-dwt capacity Leonidas Warrior which carried around 180,000 mt of concentrate, and 177,754-dwt Sealink which carried about 176,000 mt.
In February, Metinvest plans to use four capesize class vessels for shipments to China, including 197,000-dwt Diamond Warrior, 174,000-dwt Furong, 136,000-dwt Matrix, and 194,000-dwt Mykonos, i.e., a total of 701,000 dwt.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, Metinvest commenced deliveries of iron ore for export with capsize bulk freights only last November, and up to now has been shipping around 600,000 mt of iron ore concentrate per month to China.