Brazilian mining giant Vale is in talks with Liaoning-based Chinese shipbuilder Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Co. on the building of two 405,000 dwt Very Large Ore Carriers (VLOCs), while the two carriers would be finished at the end of 2013 and at the beginning of 2014.
Vale CEO Murilo Ferreira stated that the function of the VLOCs would be to allow increased iron ore supplies to the Asian market.
According to Vale, in the April-June period of the current year its iron ore output totaled 80.30 million mt, of which 62.60 million mt were purchased. One third of the purchased iron ore was exported to China.