Brazilian reports that Vale has been given the go ahead for its fleet of giant bulkers to call in China have been received in China with zipped mouths.
Brazil’s top newswire quoted Jose Carlos Martins, executive officer for ferrous minerals operations and marketing for Vale, as saying the slew of 400,000dwt so-called Valemaxes will be able to call in China this year.
However, every official SinoShip News contacted for comment on the news today either declined to comment or claimed to know nothing of Beijing’s reversal in its policy towards the mining giant.
Gurinder Singh, Vale’s Singapore-based director of shipping, declined to comment, while officials at the China Shipowners’ Association, the body that has most vocally campaigned against these ships, often dubbed “cape killers” for their horrendous effect on bulker earnings, denied knowledge of the change in heart by government. Similarly, port officials at a number of ports in China that Vale has been linked to in the past all declined to comment.
The long simmering row over Vale’s access to the mainland market saw it sell a number of its Valemaxes to a Turkish firm last year, by way of a concession to Chinese concerns.
Vale has held a number of discussions in Beijing as it seeks to get its ships calling to its largest customer base, China. In the interim, Vale has had to reroute its ships so that they offload in places in Southeast Asia for onward transhipment to China on smaller vessels.
To date, just one Valemax has called in China, the Berge Everest back in December 2011. The 388,000 dwt ship is owned by Berge Bulk which is controlled by the Sohmen family, who also own BW Group. Since then no other very large ore carrier (VLOC) has called in China, with authorities bringing in laws to ban ships over 350,000dwt calling, citing safety reasons.