Vale Wraps Up Sale of Four VLOCs

Brazilian mining company Vale S.A. (Vale) and a consortium led by ICBC Financial Leasing, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, have concluded the sale and purchase of four very large ore carriers of 400,000 tons deadweight owned and currently operated by Vale.

The transaction totaled in USD 423 million. Vale said that it received the amount on Tuesday, upon the delivery of the vessels to the new owners.​​​

​​Just last week at an investors conference in London, Vale SA revealed plans to dispose of its remaining 11 Valemaxes though a lease-back deal estimated to be worth around USD 1.1 billion.

The move comes as Vale pushes to cut transportation costs between Brazil and Asia in an already challenging market which has seen iron ore drop to below USD 40 per tonne on the spot market.

The major driver for Vale in this transaction is to get competitive freight rates on the lease-back agreements.