Vale and ArcelorMittal were fined BRL 34.2 million each by the city of Vitoria due to air and sea pollution at the Tubarao port, which was shut down this week for the same reasons.
The Tubarao port is operated by Vale, but also serves the needs of steelmaker ArcelorMittal in Brazil. It accounts for the shipment of about 30 percent of the Vale’s iron ore output.
The city of Vitoria said the fine “doesn’t exempt the [two] companies of repairing for the environmental damages [they] caused,” despite being punitive.
Scrutiny over Vale, which owns a 50 percent stake in local pellets producer Samarco, has increased since the Mariana disaster late last year, which killed 17 people and was labeled by Brazilian media as the worst environmental disaster the country ever experienced.
A Citibank analyst said this week a prolonged halt of the port’s operations could have an impact in the global iron ore market, given the large volumes of the commodity it can transport.
A source from a major global steelmaker told SteelOrbis that the port’s closure can have a stronger impact over ArcelorMittal than on Vale, since Vale can use other ports, such as the Ponta da Madeira terminal port, to export iron ore.
ArcelorMittal wasn’t immediately available to comment the issue.