CMES, Vale Pen Contract of Affreightment

China Merchants Energy Shipping Co., Ltd. (CMES), through a subsidiary Hong Kong Ming Wah Shipping Co., Ltd (HKMW), signed a Contract of Affreightment (COA) for a period up to 25 years with Brazilian mining giant Vale International Co., Ltd. (Vale). 

The document was signed by  Xie Chunlin, President of CMES and Gurinder Singh, Director of Vale Shipping and Distribution in Hong Kong on 25 September 2015.

The signing of COA comes in support of the implementation of the Additional Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement signed between CMES and Vale in Brazil on 19 May 2015 when the two agreed on the sale of four very large ore carriers (VLOCs) to CMES. The transaction totaled in USD 448 million.

Earlier this month CMES set up a wholly-owned subsidiary to own and operate the Valemaxes that are expected to join CMES fleet this month.

The signing comes in the wake of the arrival of the first fully-laden Valemax at a Chinese port in July after the 2012-ban on Valemaxes was partially lifted in China.