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:	Low-speed diesel engine Diesel engine A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber... , 29,000 kW

Valemax is a class of very large ore carriers (VLOC) operated 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 Vale S.A.. The 400,000-ton 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...

 ships, designed to transport iron ore from Brazil to European and Chinese ports, are the 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,...

s ever built and among the longest ships currently in service.

Vale has placed orders for seven Valemax ships to be constructed by 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...

 (DSME) 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 by 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...

. In addition sixteen more ships with the same dimensions will be built for other shipping companies and chartered to Vale under long-term contracts. In the future some of the ships may be sold or chartered to Chinese shipping companies.

The first Valemax vessel, Vale Brasil

MS Vale Brasil

MS Vale Brasil, owned by the Brazilian mining company Vale, is the world's largest bulk carrier. 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 ordered by Vale from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine...

, was delivered in 2011 and all 35 ships are expected to be in service by 2013.

Main dimensions

The Valemax vessels are 360–362 m (1,181.1–1,187.7 ft) long, making them some of the longest ships currently in service. While the general design is similar, there are slight differences in main dimensions and various details between ships built by the South Korean and Chinese shipyards — for example the DSME-built Valemax ships are the longest while the others have much rounder bow. With a maximum draught of 22–23 m (72.2–75.5 ft) the ships are limited only to a few deepwater ports in Brazil, Europe and China. The breadth of the Valemax ships is about 65 metres (213 ft).

Cargo capacity

The Valemax vessels have seven cargo holds with a total gross volume of almost 220000 cubic metres (287,749 cu yd). In addition to increasing the strength of the hull special attention has also been paid to improve the speed and efficiency of the loading and discharging operations. Each cargo hold can be fully loaded by a shiploader

Shiploader

A Shiploader is a huge machine used for loading bulk solid materials like iron ore, coal, fertilizers, grains into marine vessels for transportation by sea. Shiploaders are a very common sight in ports and jetties from where bulk materials are exported....

 in a single step with a loading rate of 13,500 tonnes per hour and can carry almost as much iron ore as a small Panamax

Panamax

Panamax and New Panamax are popular terms for the size limits for ships traveling through the Panama Canal. Formally, the limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority titled "Vessel Requirements"...

 carrier. In addition the space inside the cargo hold that cannot be reached by grabs

Grab (tool)

A grab is a mechanical device with two or more jaws , used to pick things up or to capture things. Some types include:*Roundnose grab*Clamshell grab*Orange-peel grab**in Dutch they are called poliep grijpers = "polyp grabs"....

 during discharging, the so-called "dead spots", is minimized.

With a deadweight tonnage of 400,000 tons, a fully laden Valemax vessel is carrying as much iron ore as around 11,150 trucks, enough to produce steel for three Golden Gate

Golden Gate

The Golden Gate is the North American strait connecting San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. Since 1937 it has been spanned by the Golden Gate Bridge...

 bridges.

Propulsion

Like most modern bulk carriers, each Valemax vessel will be powered by a single two-stroke low-speed crosshead diesel engine directly coupled to a fixed-pitch propeller. The ships built by DSME and STX in South Korea will be powered by 7-cylinder

Straight-seven engine

A straight-seven engine or inline-seven engine is a straight engine with seven cylinders. Wärtsilä, with their RTA96-C, and MAN Diesel produce crosshead two-stroke diesel engines in this configuration. Wärtsilä also produces regular trunk engines in this configuration...

 MAN B&W 7S80ME-C8 and 7S80ME-C engines, respectively, and the ships built in China will receive Wärtsilä

Wärtsilä

Wärtsilä is a Finnish corporation which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include large combustion engines...

 7RT-flex82T engines manufactured locally under licence. Both MAN and Wärtsilä engines will have a maximum continuous rating

Maximum Continuous Rating

Maximum continuous rating is defined as the maximum output that a generating station is capable of producing continuously under normal conditions over a year. Under ideal conditions, the actual output could be higher than the MCR....

 of around 29000 kW at 76–78 rpm, giving the ships a service speed of around 15 knots (8.2 m/s) while burning almost 100 tons of heavy fuel oil per day. However, due to the large size of the vessels the emissions per cargo ton-mile are very low, making the Valemax vessels in fact one of the most efficient long-distance dry bulk carriers in service — Vale has reported a 35 % drop in emissions per ton of cargo carried in comparison to older ships.

Classification

The Valemax vessels built by DSME and in China will be 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...

. The first ship, Vale Brasil, carries a class notation 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 new ships are considerably larger than the previous record holder, 364,767-ton Berge Stahl, which had been the largest bulk carrier in the world since she was built in 1986. While the draft of the old vessel is the same as that of the Valemax vessels — 23 metres (75 ft) — the new ships are 20 metres (66 ft) longer and 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) wider than the old freighter. In addition the ships are 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 Valemax vessels not been built, these ships would have become the largest bulk carriers in the world.

The Valemax vessels are also the second largest ships in service by deadweight tonnage, second only to the TI class supertankers that have a deadweight tonnage of over 440,000 tons. However, they are still far from the largest ship ever constructed — the Seawise Giant, built in 1979 and broken up in 2009, was 458.46 metres (1,504.1 ft) long and had a deadweight tonnage of 564,650 tons — and also considerably shorter than the longest ships currently in service, the 397 metres (1,302 ft) Mærsk E class container ships.

Construction

The first Valemax vessels were ordered on 3 August 2008 when Vale signed a contract with the Chinese shipbuilder Jiangsu Rongsheng Heavy Industries for the construction of twelve 400,000-ton ore carriers. The contract, worth $1.6 billion, is the world's biggest single shipbuilding contract by deadweight tonnage. The first Chinese-built Valemax vessel, Vale China, was launched at the Nantong

Nantong

Nantong is a prefecture-level city in Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China. Located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, near the river mouth, Nantong is a vital river port bordering Yancheng to the north, Taizhou to the west, Suzhou and Shanghai to the south across the river, and...

 shipyard on 9 July 2011 and is expected to call a Chinese port on its first commercial voyage after it was delivered on 25 November 2011. Two other Valemax vessels under construction at Jiangsu Rongsheng Heavy Industries shipyard, Vale Dongjiakou and Vale Dalian, have also been launched as of November 2011. Doubts have been cast about the Chinese shipbuilder's ability to deliver any of the very large ore carriers ordered by Vale in time. In May 2011 it was announced that due to delays in construction only two or three Valemax vessels will be delivered from the Chinese shipyard in 2011 instead of the planned six. Furthermore, the Chinese shipyard now claims that the ships ordered by Vale have a capacity of only 380,000 tons, even though according to the DNV Exchange database entry the Vale China has a deadweight tonnage of 400,606 tons and in the past Vale has referred to the ships ordered from Rongsheng as 400,000-ton vessels.

On 26 October 2009 Vale ordered four Valemax vessels from the South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) for $460 million. Further three ships were ordered from DSME in July 2010, bringing the total order to seven 400,000-ton Valemax vessels. Despite receiving the order later than the Chinese shipyard, DSME launched the first Valemax class ore carrier, Vale Brasil, on 31 December 2010 and delivered her to Vale in March 2011. The second ship, Vale Rio de Janeiro

MV Vale Rio de Janeiro

MV Vale Rio de Janeiro, owned by the Brazilian mining company Vale, is the world's largest bulk carrier and a sister ship of MV Vale Brasil...

, was delivered on 22 September 2011. The third ship, formerly named Vale Sao Luis but later renamed Vale Italia, was delivered on 25 October 2011.

In addition to the ships Vale has ordered for itself further sixteen Valemax vessels will be built for other shipping companies and chartered to Vale under exclusive long-term contracts, bringing the total Valemax fleet to 35 vessels. Eight of the ships will be built by South Korean shipbuilder STX Offshore & Shipbuilding for STX Pan Ocean, which signed a 25-year contract with Vale in 2009. The first ship for STX Pan Ocean, Vale Beijing, was delivered on 27 September 2011 and another Valemax VLOC is expected to take delivery later this year. The remaining ships will be delivered in 2012 (four ships) and 2013 (two ships). The deadweight tonnage of the Vale Beijing, 374,400 tons, is slightly smaller than that of the first Valemax ships built by DSME.

On 2 November 2008 Oman Shipping Company signed a framework agreement for the construction of four 400,000-ton vessels to transport iron ore from Brazil to the port of Sohar

Port of Sohar

Port of Sohar, also known as Sohar Industrial Port, is situated in the Al Batinah Region of Oman. It is a joint venture between the Omani government and the Port of Rotterdam. The port is operated by Sohar Industrial Port Company ....

 in Oman

Oman

Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...

, where Vale is expected to open a steel plant in near future. The ships, reportedly named Jazer, Yanqul, Al Kamil and Wafi, will also be built by Jiangsu Rongsheng Heavy Industries.

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 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 to discharge her cargo.

Criticism

Vale's decision of constructing a fleet of 400,000-ton ore carriers has been widely criticized by other shipping companies. The new Valemax ships, expected to cut the company's transportation costs by 20–25 %, are blamed for driving down the freight rates for the entire industry, swelling the already oversupplied bulk transportation market and stalling the recovery of the shipping business after the financial crisis

Late-2000s financial crisis

The late-2000s financial crisis is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s...

. The freight rates, down 80 % from 2008, are expected to drop further down to the levels of 1977. According to the chief executive of BIMCO, the Valemax vessels could displace up to 168 150,000–180,000-ton capesize

Capesize

Capesize ships are cargo ships originally too large to transit the Suez Canal . To travel between oceans, such vessels used to have to pass either the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn. In effect Capesize reads as "unlimited"...

 bulk carriers, around 15 % of the existing fleet, from the long haul voyages and force them to less profitable shorter routes. Vale has responded to the criticism by stating that the company aims to permanently cut the costs of Atlantic-Pacific dry bulk shipping to make Brazilian ore more competitive against iron ore produced in Australia, which is closer to major customers in Asia.

Vale has also faced opposition from Chinese shipping companies which claim that the Brazilian mining company is seeking to control the freight market as it has already done with the iron ore prices. In the past the Chinese ports were not allowed to increase their capacity to more than 300,000 tons for dry bulk carriers due to safety and environmental concerns, and if the 400,000-ton Valemax vessels are allowed to Chinese ports, Vale's monopoly on the route may result in losses for many shipping companies. Also, when Vale Brasil was diverted to Italy on her maiden voyage, there was speculation that the domestic steel industry of China had urged the authorities to protect their commercial interests. As a result Vale has proposed to sell or lease its planned fleet of Valemax bulk carriers to Chinese shipping companies with long-term charter contracts to avoid such criticism and allow the ships to enter Chinese ports.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , known popularly as Lula, served as the 35th President of Brazil from 2003 to 2010.A founding member of the Workers' Party , he ran for President three times unsuccessfully, first in the 1989 election. Lula achieved victory in the 2002 election, and was inaugurated as...

, the former president of Brazil, has also publicly criticized Vale's CEO Roger Agnelli for the decision of ordering ships from Asian shipyards instead of building them in Brazil, where Lula da Silva has been trying to revitalize the shipbuilding industry to create more jobs and increase local demand for steel and other products. Agnelli, who later left his position following continued criticism, replied that the Brazilian shipyards did not have the capacity to build such ships and stated that during the past few years Vale had commissioned 51 vessels from Brazilian shipyards.

List of Valemax vessels

Ship name	Shipping company	Year	Yard number	IMO number	Status	Notes
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering
Vale Brasil MS Vale Brasil MS Vale Brasil, owned by the Brazilian mining company Vale, is the world's largest bulk carrier. 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 ordered by Vale from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine...	Vale Shipping	2011	1201	9488918	In service
Vale Rio de Janeiro MV Vale Rio de Janeiro MV Vale Rio de Janeiro, owned by the Brazilian mining company Vale, is the world's largest bulk carrier and a sister ship of MV Vale Brasil...	Vale Shipping	2011	1202	9572329	In service
Vale Italia	Vale Shipping	2011	1203	9572331	In service
STX Offshore & Shipbuilding
Vale Beijing	STX Pan Ocean	2011	1701	9575448	In service
Jiangsu Rongsheng Heavy Industries
Vale China	Vale Shipping	2011	1105	9522972	In service
Vale Dongjiakou	Vale Shipping	2012	1106	9532513	Launched
Vale Dalian	Vale Shipping	2012	1107	9532525	Launched
			1108	9532537
			1109	9532549
			1110	9532551
			1111	9532575
			1112	9532587
			1113	9532599
			1114	9532604
			1115	9532616
			1116	9532628
Jazer	Oman Shipping Company
Yanqul	Oman Shipping Company
Al Kamil	Oman Shipping Company
Wafi	Oman Shipping Company