Classification:	Det Norske Veritas Det Norske Veritas Stiftelsen Det Norske Veritas is a classification society organized as a foundation, with the objective of "Safeguarding life, property, and the environment". The organization's history goes back to 1864, when the foundation was established in Norway to inspect and evaluate the technical condition...
Main engine:	MAN B&W 7S80ME-C8 (29,260 kW)
Auxiliary engines:	3 × Hyundai Hyundai Hyundai ) is a global conglomerate company, part of the Korean chaebol, that was founded in South Korea by one of the most famous businessmen in Korean history: Chung Ju-yung... -HiMSEN 6H21/32 (3 × 1,270 kW)

MS Vale Brasil, owned by the Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian mining company

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

 Vale, is the world's largest bulk carrier

Bulk carrier

A bulk carrier, bulk freighter, or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo, such as grains, coal, ore, and cement in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, economic forces have fueled the development of these ships,...

. Designed to carry iron ore from Brazil to Asia along the Cape route around South Africa, she is the first of seven 400,000-ton very large ore carriers (VLOC) ordered by Vale from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd ' is the second largest shipbuilder in the world and one of the "Big Three" shipbuilders of South Korea.On 21 February 2011, the A. P...

 in South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

  and twelve from Jiangsu Rongsheng Heavy Industries in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. While close to the specifications of Chinamax

Chinamax

Chinamax is a standard of shipmeasurements, that allow conforming ships to use multiple harbours at maximum capacity. Inversely, harbours and other infrastructure that are "Chinamax-compatible" can receive such ships economically, i.e...

, these ships are generally referred to as Valemax

Valemax

Valemax is a class of very large ore carriers operated by the Brazilian mining company Vale S.A.. The 400,000-ton Chinamax ships, designed to transport iron ore from Brazil to European and Chinese ports, are the largest bulk carriers ever built and among the longest ships currently in service....

 vessels by Vale.

Design

The overall length of the Vale Brasil is 362 metres (1,187.7 ft), making her one of the longest ships currently in service. The breadth and depth of her hull are 65 metres (213.3 ft) and 30.4 metres (99.7 ft), respectively, giving her a gross tonnage

Gross tonnage

Gross tonnage is a unitless index related to a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage...

 of 198,980.

The Vale Brasil has seven cargo holds with a combined gross volume of 219,980 cubic metres and net tonnage of 67,993. Her deadweight tonnage

Deadweight tonnage

Deadweight tonnage is a measure of how much weight a ship is carrying or can safely carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provisions, passengers, and crew...

 is 402,347 tons. When carrying a full load of iron ore, equal to around 11,150 trucks, her draught is 23 metres (75.5 ft). Like other very large ore carriers of her size, the Vale Brasil is limited to only a few deepwater ports in Brazil, Europe and China.

The Vale Brasil is propelled by a single MAN B&W 7S80ME-C8 two-stroke low-speed diesel engine directly coupled to a fixed-pitch propeller. The main engine, which has a maximum output of 29260 kW at 78 rpm, burns 96.7 tons of heavy fuel oil per day. However, due to the large size of the vessel the emissions per cargo ton-mile are very low, making the Vale Brasil in fact one of the most efficient long-distance dry bulk carriers in service, and for this reason the ship received the Clean Ship award of 2011 in the Norwegian shipping exhibition Nor-Shipping. Vale has reported 35 % drop in emissions per ton of cargo in comparison to older ships. Her service speed is 15.4 knots (8.4 m/s).

The Vale Brasil is classified by Det Norske Veritas

Det Norske Veritas

Stiftelsen Det Norske Veritas is a classification society organized as a foundation, with the objective of "Safeguarding life, property, and the environment". The organization's history goes back to 1864, when the foundation was established in Norway to inspect and evaluate the technical condition...

 with a class notation of 1A1 Ore Carrier ESP ES(O) E0 NAUT-OC BWM-E(s) IB-3 COAT-PSPC(B) CSA-2 BIS EL-2 TMON NAUTICUS(Newbuilding).

Size record

The Vale Brasil is considerably larger than the previous record-holder, Berge Stahl, in every respect. Both her gross tonnage and deadweight tonnage are larger than those of the Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 ship, 175,720 and 364,767 tons, respectively. While the draught of both ships is the same, the Vale Brasil is also 20 metres (65.6 ft) longer and 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) wider than the Berge Stahl. In addition the Vale Brasil is larger and slightly longer than the four new 388,000-ton, 361 metres (1,184 ft) Chinamax bulk carriers Berge Bulk has ordered from China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation

China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation

The China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation is one of the two largest shipbuilding conglomerates in China, the other being the China State Shipbuilding Corporation . It was formed by the Government of the People's Republic of China on 1 July 1999 from companies spun off from CSSC. It is...

. Had the Vale Brasil not been built, these ships would have become the largest bulk carriers in the world.

She is also the second largest ship currently in service by deadweight tonnage, second only to the TI class supertankers that have a deadweight tonnage of over 440,000 tons.

Career

On 24 May 2011 the Vale Brasil received her first cargo at the Brazilian port Terminal Marítimo de Ponta da Madeira

Terminal Marítimo de Ponta da Madeira

The Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal, owned by mining company CVRD, sits next to the public port of Itaqui, in the state of Maranhão, in northern Brazil. It was chosen as the terminus of the Estrada de Ferro Carajas, where trains unload iron ore for shipping overseas, mainly to Europe and Eastern...

 — 391,000 tons of iron ore, enough to produce steel for more than three Golden Gate bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...

s, bound for Dalian

Dalian

Dalian is a major city and seaport in the south of Liaoning province, Northeast China. It faces Shandong to the south, the Yellow Sea to the east and the Bohai Sea to the west and south. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, Dalian is the southernmost city of Northeast China and China's...

 in China. However, in June, after rounding the Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...

, the ship was rerouted to Taranto

Taranto

Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base....

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, and turned back towards the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

. There had been speculation that the Vale Brasil was not allowed to enter the Chinese port fully laden, but according to Vale the destination was changed due to commercial, not political reasons. The ship arrived at the port of Taranto on 14 July 2011.

See also

• Berge Stahl, the largest bulk carrier in the world before the Vale Brasil.
• List of world's longest ships