Vale Concludes Sale of VLOCs to Cosco
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Brazilian miner Vale has completed the sale of four other large iron ore carriers to China Ocean Shipping Company (Cosco), which was agreed last September.
This transaction is related to the agreement signed with Cosco on September 12, 2014.
The transaction amounted to 445 million dollars and the amount will be received by Vale upon delivery of the vessels to Cosco, which is scheduled to take place in June 2015.
Under the agreement, four VLOCs ships are transferred to the Cosco and chartered to Vale for 25 years contract.
Vale is in the process of selling its ore carriers, known as VLOCs or Valemaxes, as it looks to raise cash and improve relations with China's shipping companies which had previously lobbied to block access of the ships to Chinese ports.
The prohibition for Vale moor their big ships at Chinese ports last year, it was frustrating the mining company attempts to reduce freight costs and compete with Australian rivals such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, which are closer to China.