Vale in newbuilding bonanza worth $171m

Lloyd's List
Michelle Wiese Bockmann
1/23/2009

Vale has contracted three Brazilian shipyards to build 49 ships, barges and tugs worth $171m to operate at its terminals, writes Michelle Wiese Bockmann.

The first, a tug, will be delivered this year, Vale said. Tugs would operate at either the Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal in Maranhão state or the Tubarão Complex in Espírito Santo.

The contracts also cover 15 tugs with delivery before 2011 at a cost of $118.6m, to expand Vale's current fleet of 14. Eleven will be built at Detroit shipyard, in Navegantes, Santa Catarina state, and four at Santa Cruz shipyard, in Aracaju, Sergipe state.

The 32 barges and the two pushers, costing $52.5m, will be built at Rio- Maguari shipyard, in Belém, Pará state, with delivery by 2010. This fleet will operate for Mina de Urucum, in Corumbá, Mato Grosso do Sul state, transporting ore on the Brazil-Paraguay and Brazil-Argentina routes.

Previous Vale newbuilding orders include five 2,700 teu boxships ordered at the EISA shipyard in Rio de Janeiro state, and another two bulk carriers for bauxite. These were ordered in 2007 via Log-In Logística Intermodal, of which Vale owns 31.3%.

Vale