Has the time come for 500,000 dwt Ultra Large Ore Carriers?

[Mats]

There is an article in Tradewinds today about it, and here are some excerpts:

China looks to bulker giants

The demand for bigger ships has put Chinese yards at their drawing boards.

Market sources say privately owned Jiangsu Rongsheng Heavy Industries is introducing a new state-of-the-art design for a very large ore carrier (VLOC) that will take this type of ship up to 400,000 dwt. Bulker players say the largest ore carrier in the water is of 360,000 dwt, while the biggest newbuildings on order are 388,000-dwt vessels booked by BW Shipping at China's Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industries Co.

An official from Rongsheng confirms the work on the new ship type and says the vessel will be 65 metres wide and 460 metres long. Rongsheng is set to start marketing the ship to owners shortly.

One Japanese bulker expert says the size of ore carriers will get larger because shippers and steel mills want large vessels to transport their cargoes. "Chinese steel mills are importing big amounts of iron ore and they are even considering using 500,000-dwt ultra large ore carriers [ULOCs] to ship the cargoes," he said. "Chinese steel mills can afford to deploy large ore carriers because they have big stockyards to store the cargoes, while Japanese steel mills do not have that kind of space."

This will be interesting to follow.

[Nathan]

Wow, this certainly is a large plan!
How long do you think it would take, if it all were to kick off? Including the planning, finance actuall building etc.
Will they have a yard big enough?

- Nathan

[pepper_220]

any more news of the 500000dwt VLOC?
vale interested it again?