Vale Beijing departs

Vale Beijing departed Sao Luis on Sunday 19th February, bound for Vale's Sohar pellet mill in Oman. No further ore was loaded after the structural failure alongside Ponta da Madeira and, after cargo was redistributed, she has been granted a voyage dispensation to make the one-way trip.

After discharge at Sohar, she will go to dry-dock in the Arabian Gulf for permanent repairs.

The Antipodean Mariner has been told that the structural failure was a design flaw by her Builders, STX Shipbuilding. Stiffeners on the webs were incorrectly oriented resulting in the frames with the structural integrity of corrugated cardboard. STX Pan Ocean will be wearing the off-hire and repair but Vale have suffered the greater commercial 'damage' of China's closure to the fleet.

In Subic Bay, Vale Brasil and Ore Fabrica are still rafted together after seven days. Ore Itagaui (280,000 DWT VLOC) and Ore Pantanal (180,000 DWT Cape, built 2010 Sundong) remain at anchor awaiting their opportunity to received cargo. Ore Fabrica doesn't have sufficient deadweight to receive 'Brasil's full cargo. AM's running a voyage model and will put a number on the cost of this first trans-shipment against the long run voyage cost of Brazil - China.

Sundong-built Capesize

AM

VLOC's, China and Vale Beijing

The article below is re-posted from Tradewinds (31st January 2012) as China closes the door to any ore carrier larger than 300,000 DWT

China has officially nailed up a no entry sign at its ports closing them off to Vale’s VLOCs.

Beijing claims the move comes amid safety concerns linked to the giant vessels, but there is widespread belief the government is protecting its own shipowners and charterers.

“We are not optimistic about the safety situation of port operations for large ships, particularly the berthing operations of super large ships whose sizes are larger than design standards permit,” said the Ministry of Transport.

“Considering the sizeable hidden dangers, we have decided to adjust the port management system for the berthing of large ships.”

Its fresh stance comes only a few weeks after a VLOC owned by STX Pan Ocean sprang a leak while loading in Brazil.

Jeffrey Landsberg of Commadore Research said: "While today's announcement was issued by China's Ministry of Transport on the pretense of adhering to safety concerns, in reality the move is being made to aid Chinese shipowners and maintain leverage over Vale.

“Going forward, we continue to view the use of iron ore transshipment hubs as a positive factor as it will result in a larger amount of vessels being used to ship the same cargoes of iron ore.”

China has been under pressure from domestic owners who feared they were excluded from the VLOC project and were suffering as the vessels were stifling earnings in the sector.

George Lazardis of Intermodal told Reuters: "At the end of the day, they (China) want to support their own.

“They are not interested in whether Vale will be able to provide cheap imports in comparison to Australian imports.

"They are interested in giving support to their shipowners, which are starting to become a significant force over the past couple of years, and to help that part of the industry grow."

Macquarie commodity analyst Graeme Train told the newswire: "China is so dependent on imported raw materials that it has a structural incentive to destroy freight prices as much as possible.

"And Vale's strategy with the VLOCs was a direct threat to that because Vale would ... take the lower freight cost themselves, when really what China wants to do is to ensure that there's oversupply in the freight market and to take advantage of that for itself."

Vale will now turn its attention to a transshipment hub in the Philippines to make sure it has work for the bulkers, many of which are still under construction.

By Andy Pierce (Tradewinds reporter) in London

Photo below is Vale Beijing (from the website Maritime Bulletin) at anchor off Sao Luis, transferring cargo using a crawler crane from No.7 Hold forward to No.3 and No.5 Holds. She is already looking lighter aft after be-bunkering. Information on her intended repair location remains tightly held, though for what end now?

AM

Vale Beijing and Subic Bay

A brief wrap of news from Vale’s ChinaMax ‘Vale Beijing’ and their ore trans-shipment hub in Subic Bay.

Reliable sources have told the Antipodean Mariner that Vale Beijing’s structural failure is pointing towards a ‘mis-communication’ in the design phase by STX. The parallel body deign of the ships was the role of one team and the bow/stern area another. The modular construction of the hull blocks at the Yard lead to the longitudinal strength members in the parallel body not aligning with the corresponding strength members in the stern part. STX are apparently modifying the remaining ships under construction.

‘Vale China’ is en route to Subic Bay, Vale’s trans-shipment zone in the Philippines reporting an ETA of 222^nd February.



Ore Fabrica (ex VLCC Front Duchess) has been converted into a floating ore terminal with offset cranes, conveyors and ship loader, and has sailed from China for Subic Bay, ETA 30^th January. The Antipodean Mariner is heading to Subic Bay next week and will try to get some good oil and photos of the Ore Fabrica.

AM

Vale Beijing has a crane

News on the Vale Beijing, the VLOC which suffered structural failure loading her first cargo in Brazil, has been very hard to come by. This article from a Brazilian newspaper on 12th January paraphrased by AM and with the help of Google Translator;

The Port of Maranhão (CPMA) said it has completed the installation of the crane on the deck of Vale Beijing, at anchor in San Marcos Bay, 60 miles off the coast of Sao Luis.

The vessel is cracked in the ballast tank located in way Hold 6 after an incident during the loading of iron ore in December 2011 at Ponta da Madeira Port Terminal (TPPM). The crane will be used to redistribute of cargo in Hold 7 forward to Holds 3 and 5 to stabilize the ship.

The Port captaincy also reported that the tanker Sea Emperor, who successfully conducted the removal of 4,500 tons of fuel oil bunkers from Vale Beijing last week, should return to the vessel again today to take off another 2,000 tonnes, leaving the damaged vessel with enough bunkers to keep running her generators running and to maintain essential services. Cargo transfer will only start after the removal of bunkers has been completed. It is planned to complete emergency repairs to the hull in San Marcos Bay.

A bad day at the Terminal - 'Trade Daring', Ponta da Madeira, 1994

AM

Vale Beijing update at Ponta da Madeira

Some fresh news of ‘Vale Beijing’, the VLOC crippled by structural failure during her first loading at Ponta de Madeira in Brazil. The tanker ‘Sea Emperor’ is alongside and de-bunkering 5,000 tonnes of her 7,500 HFO bunkers. This appears to the AM to be a strategy to minimise bunkers and to reduce the bending stress in the hull. Bunkers are available in Gibraltar and Algeciras - just over half-way to Turkey.

Salvors Smit have rigged a temporary conveyor to enable a crane ship or barge to unload the aft No.7 Hold of ore and transfer to Holds 3 and 5, which are empty. No.6 Hold, where the failure occurred, is reported to be flooded.

‘Vale Beijing’ is reported to have two cracks in her hull under the waterline, each about 60cm in length by about 10cm in width. Temporary repairs are planned to enable her to sail to Turkey for dry-docking and permanent repairs.

With 45 followers now of this Blog - mainly from the Rena first person posts - the AM needs to be more than a 'one trick pony'. Hope there is enough to keep you all interested in my maritime world.


Vale Beijing and Sea Emperor at anchor, Sao Luis




Grab ready for the arrival of the crane ship


Transferring bunkers to Sea Emperor


Shot from the bridge of the conveyor for the cargo transfer to Holds 3 and 5



The Antipodean Mariner

Rena has sunk

Rena has sunk at Astrolabe Reef this morning. Only visible part of the stern is the port bridge wing.

The eyewitness account is that she appeared to be slowly settling by the stern. Very quickly, No.7 hatch began to fill and she sank below the waves. Her position is described as listed to starboard with about a 30 metre stern trim. It's understood that the front part of the stern section is still awash. MNZ may have some overflight photographs soon.


This shot taken this morning at dawn, just before she sank.


Overflight photo from MNZ this morning, showing the water level in No.7 Hold


Photo from Stuff NZ of Astrolabe Reef this morning

Hi-res aerial photos from salvage consultants LOC and Maritime NZ here.


Debris field as the aft hold goes under - MNZ/LOC


Going under - Maritime NZ/LOC


And one final photo from MNZ's gallery

This wraps up the morning's news. Maritime NZ are updating their website regularly and there are some great hi-res shots from Astrolabe Reef being posted at their incident gallery

Farewell Rena, it's been a great ride while it lasted. More from Astrolabe Reef later. Some news and photos received from Brasil on 'Vale Beijing' to be posted.

TTFN, The Antipodean Mariner

Berge Everest at Dalian

Some photos of the 'Berge Everest' berthing in Dalian, China - the first of Vale's ChinaMax fleet to deliver a cargo to its intended destination. From Dalian, she is heading back to Singapore - presumably for bunkers - then Brazil for the next cargo.





News on her less fortunate cousin 'Vale Beijing', which remains at anchor of Sao Luis. Bad weather has so far prevented the ship from being debunkered. Lloyd's List reports that three ballast pumps are working at full capacity to match the inflow of water in from the hull failure. STX Pan Ocean are looking for a large dry-dock in Portugal or Turkey for repairs. Temporary repairs may be attempted in Brazil. No news on whether the cargo will remain in her for the voyage to dry-dock.

AM

Tradewinds: Vale VLOCs a "loss-leader"

If you ever needed proof that a Shipbroker could sell refrigerators to Eskimo's, read on. I'm sure Vale's Board of Directors are congratulating themselves now on cunning plan brilliantly executed.

AM

Vale VLOCs a "loss-leader" (Tradewinds)

Losses Brazilian mining giant Vale may suffer from selling its 19 very large ore carriers (VLOCs) might be a small price to pay to gain access for the behemoths to Chinese ports, according to ICAP Shipping’s James Leake.

The broker’s research managing director says Vale may have come in for unfair criticism from many commentators for its move into industrial shipping.

Attention has focused “purely on the shipping dimension and citing the likely thumping discount of current market values to original purchase prices,” says Leake.

But, he says the ”contrarian” view suggests that even in a worst-case scenario any loss would be “covered by the profit from the sale of iron ore from only one or two shipments in these vessels, even at current depressed ore prices.”

Added Leake:”Ultimately, this may be a small price to pay for the political capital that could be achieved by transfer of ownership to Chinese interests, with the endgame being the acceptance of these behemoths in Chinese ports.

“Vale, after all, is in the iron ore business first and foremost—this could prove to be the most extravagant loss-leading strategy of all time.”

Leake says the announcement that Vale plans to sell off its VLOCs with long-term charters back comes as no surprise.

Those vessels already delivered have not received approval to enter China’s ports.Also, one of the newbuildings, the 400,00-dwt Vale Beijing (built 2011), developed cracks in the hull while being loaded at Ponta da Madeira, northern Brazil.

Vale placed orders in 2008 for 12 of the so-called Valemax vessels for construction by Jiangsu Rongsheng Heavy Industries in China, plus seven more in 2009 at Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.

A further 16 similar-size vessels have been ordered in China and South Korea for other companies for long-term charter to Vale.All are set to enter service by 2013.

By Geoff Garfield in London

Published: 11:02 GMT, 22 Dec 11 updated: 11:04 GMT, 22 Dec 11

Vale Beijing salvage plan

With the assistance of Google Translator, the Antipodean Mariner has been able to pull together a summary as at 20th December;

STX Pan Ocean have appointed Smit as salvors, and their first priority is to debunker the ship at anchor of the bulk of her fuel oil, leaving sufficient to maintain essential services. The debunkering plan requires ratification by the Brazilian Institite of the Environment and Natural Resources. A floating crane is to be brought to Sao Luis to redistribute cargo from the damaged No.7 Hold to Holds 3 and 5.



Vale Beijing (above) is being towed off the berth to anchorage - the iron ore residues on her deck from the ship loader indicate that Holds 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7 are loaded. She was reported to have had 260,000 tonnes loaded, with 20,000 tonnes in No.7 Hold at the time of the structural failure. It is believed that she will go to Rotterdam for dry-docking and permanent repairs. Unknown whether she can make the voyage under her own power with the structural damage adjacent to the engineroom bulkhead and accommodation.

AM

Vale Beijing Condition of Class

There has not been much new information on the 'Vale Beijing' , with the exception last week of the Chinese Shipowners Association playing the 'oily penguin' card and claiming that the ships are unsafe and an environmental hazard. Not a great vote of confidence by the Chinese Shipowners Association in the Chinese shipbuilding industry considering that 20 of the Vale fleet are built in Chinese yards.

Some new information which may have inadvertently been picked up by web crawler are the details of the Condition of Class imposed by DNV on Vale Beijing. A Condition of Class is a defect notice which describes the problem and what needs to be done to repair or rectify and in what timeframe. This is no longer on DNV's public website, indicating it may been removed from public view. The shorthand has explanatory notes square-bracketed:-

DNV Class Records for Vale Beijing
[Condition of Class Status] Overdue
CC 1 [Condition of Class No.1]
[Date and Office imposing the CoC] 2011-12-05, Rio de Janeiro
[Date of Expiry of the Condition of Class] 2011-12-10

#7 Port & Starboard Side WBT All six heavily buckled / fractured web frames, deformed / cracked side shell plating and distorted / cracked longitudinal stiffeners to be repaired / renewed. An action and repair plan is to be submitted / agreed including proposed sailing / towing condition, repair location (berth and/or anchorage) and loading condition before leaving São Marcos Bay, Ponta da Madeira Anchorage Area 6. Vessel to be assisted by tugs at anchorage area.


Photo of an unrelated VLOC under construction, showing the oval web frames (buff colour) either side of the cargo hold (grey colour)

Web frames are the oval steel structures between the ship's outer hull and cargo hold. On a VLOC like Vale Beijing, each web frame will be about 25 metres in height and about 15 metres wide (or deep). The CoC reports that the six web frames either side of No.7 Cargo Hold are heavily buckled along with the longitudinal stiffeners. This has lead to the our hull cracking and reports of water in the cargo hold mixed with the 20,000 tonnes of cargo reported as loaded in that hold.

The cached record of the DNV Condition of Class can be found here. Vale Beijing remains at anchor at Ponta de Madeira.

The Antipodean Mariner

Easy Loading Notation

Vale Beijing is classed with Classification Society Det Norske Veritas (DNV). DNV’s role is to act as the effective industry regulator in checking the structural integrity and construction standards. Using advanced finite-element analysis computer modelling, DNV compares the design against its own structural rules to determine what Class Notation will be assigned to the vessel.



DNV model of a bulk carrier's hull

Class Notation is a shorthand summary of the features incorporated into the design and construction of the vessel. Vale Beijing’s notation is;

1A1 Ore Carrier ESP ES(O) E0 BWM-E(s) IB-3 COAT-PSPC(B) BIS EL-2 TMON NAUTICUS (Newbuilding)

The notation EL (Easy Loading) is a new one developed for large bulk carriers. EL-1 means that each cargo hold must be loaded in two pours of about 50% of the total capacity. This is the current ‘norm’ in the bulk trades, and is done to minimise the bending and shear force stress in the ship’s structure as cargo is poured in and ballast water is pumped out.

EL-2 notation means that the full capacity of the cargo hold can be loaded in a single pour. This reduces the amount of unproductive time at the terminal shifting the ship loader between hatches. In the case of Vale Beijing, that’s 45,000 tonnes of iron ore in each of her 9 hatches at a loading rate of up to 16,000 tonnes per hour.

The Antipodean Mariner doesn’t have the technical knowledge to second guess the structural calculations and algorithms on which DNV assessed the hull girder. The observation is made that this class of vessel are the largest bulk carriers ever built, and Bulk carriers suffer far higher hull stresses than VLCC tankers of a similar sizes due to heavy iron ore being poured into a single hold rather than being spread across multiple tanks. STX and DNV will be poring over the design calculations to ascertain how a brand new ship suffered such a catastrophic structural failure during her first loading.

Follow the link to footage from a local Brazilian TV channel showing Vale Beijing being towed ‘dead ship’ to anchorage in Sao Luis.

The Antipodean Mariner will continue to follow this story and keep the blog updated with any developments.

PS: News from Bloomberg that Vale Beijing has cracking in her hull, ballast tanks and cargo hold - indication to the Antipodean Mariner that the problem is structural failure rather than a fault in a welded seam.


AM

Vale Beijing - who owns the problem?

'Vale Beijing is reported to have been succesfully shifted off the Ponta de Madeira ore berth to anchorage. The link to the Reuter story (below) has a photo gallery of the ship on the berth and judging by her deep laden condition there is a lot more than the 200,000 tonne of iron ore reported yesterday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/06/us-vale-shipping-idUSTRE7B512120111206


Vale Beijing at Ponta de Madeira Terminal: Reuters


'Vale Beijing' under tow to anchorage at Ponta de Madeira: Reuters

Highlights of the story are that the vessel could not use her engines during the move for fear of worstening the structural damage, and that divers are examining the underater hull indicating that the cracking may not be confined to the ballast tanks and cargo holds.

The theme of this posting is who owns the problem. 'Vale Beijing' is owned and operated by Korean shipping line STX Pan Ocean, and at this point they will be bearing the financial pain of the ship being off-hire and the cost of repairs. These in turn may be recoverable from the ship's Builders, STX Offshore, through the 12 month 'new ship' warranty and her insurers.

Vale is suffering major damage to its brand and reputation due to the decision to put their name on the fleet of ValeMax ore carriers. Having your brand on such a visible asset is normally a marketers dream - until something goes wrong. The grounding of the 'Exxon Valdez' was the reason Exxon divested itself from ship owning, even though it remains the world's largest oil shipper.

The Antipodean Mariner predicts that this incident, along with the wrestle for control of the iron ore supply chain, will cause Vale to quietly debrand these assets. Four of the 'smaller' 388,000 DWT ore carriers built by Berge Bulk and chartered to Vale do not carry the Vale name, and this may prove to be the way forward.

The Antipodean Mariner

'Vale Beijing' cracking at Brazilian terminal

New is circulating that 'Vale Beijing', one of the new ValeMax VLOCs, has suffered cracking while loading at the Brazilian port fo Pant de Madeira. The crack is apparently in the No.7 Hold and water is flooding into the hold from an adjacent ballast tank. The ship was scheduled to load 384,000 tonnes of iron ore but loading was stopped when she had about 200,000 tonnes loaded and with about 20,000 tonnes in the No.7 Hold.

Sources have advised the Antipodean Mariner that the ship will be moved off the loading berth and her bunkers are going to be pumped off to reduce the risk of pollution. Ponta de Madeira is a loading terminal and there are no facilities to discharge the ore aboard 'Vale Beijing'.

'Vale Beijing' was built at STX Jinhae Shipyard Korea, owned by STX Pan Ocean and time-chartered to Vale. The vessel is on her maiden voyage and Ponta de Madeira is her first cargo loading.

The Antipodean Mariner