Brazilian mining giant Vale has decided to temporarily close its distribution center in Malaysia, Teluk Rubiah Maritime Terminal (TRMT), amid the global coronavirus outbreak.
The terminal, which recorded iron ore shipments of 23.7 million tons in 2019, will suspend operations at least until March 31, 2020.
As explained, Vale took this decision as “it is temporarily unable to secure the minimum resources to safely operate the terminal.”
The announcement comes as Malaysia is implementing measures to restrict movement nationwide to fight the COVID-19 spread. Until the end of March, the country has banned travel aboard and closed schools and businesses.
“Vessels heading to TRMT will be redirected and redistributed among our blending facilities in China with no expected impact on production and sales volume in 2020, but with an impact on sales of approximately 500,000 t in 1Q20. An immaterial cost increase is expected due to additional logistics,” the company said.
Earlier this month, Vale also decided to ramp down its Voisey’s Bay mining operation in Canada and place it on care and maintenance for a period of four weeks.