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Vale assesses mega-ships in wake of Vale Beijing hull breach

January 04, 2012 - 13:32 GMT Location: London

KEYWORDS: Global , Vale , VLOC , iron ore , ship , hull , breach , incident

Brazilian iron ore mining major Vale is carrying out assessments on its fleet of eight very large ore carriers (VLOCs) after a breach in the hull of one of the ships was spotted only two months after the vessel was delivered.

The miner said that it was investigating the cause of the incident on the Vale Beijing, which saw the 400,000-tonne ore carrier’s maiden voyage to China disrupted when the breach was discovered in early December. The Vale Beijing, which was due to set sail for China on December 11, was moved to an anchorage near the Ponta de...

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