Rio Tinto orders three VLOCs

Rio Tinto, the world’s second largest iron ore mining group behind Brazil’s Vale, plans to order three very large ore carriers (VLOC) to transport iron ore from Pilbara in Western Australia to Asia at a cost of about $315 million. The 250,000 DWT vessels will be built by Namura Shipyards in Japan for delivery in late 2012 and the contract includes an option for two additional vessels. The newbuildings will be Rio’s first owner-operated iron ore carriers.

China’s iron ore imports have grown substantially in recent years and are forecast to continue to grow strongly with the potential to more than double post 2010. To maintain and increase its share of this growth, Rio Tinto Iron Ore is expanding the capacity of its Pilbara iron ore operations to 220 million tonnes by 2009, supported by long term contracts, hybrid contracts and spot sales.