Chinese Ports Strictly Controlling Entry of Valemaxes

China originally banned Valemax's on fears of its impact on Chinese supply and prices. 

Chinese ports are strictly monitoring the entry of Vale S.A.'s Valemaxes, as per orders given by the Beijing government's Ministry of Transport late last month, IHS Maritime 360 reports. 

The added controls are to remain in place until new state-level opinions are given, and were prompted by the announcement that both China COSCO Holdings Company Limited and China Merchants Energy Shipping Company Limited had signed orders for 10 new Valemaxes each. 

Both COSCO and China Merchants currently have 25-year-term contracts of affreightment with Brazil's Vale, with COSCO having also said that it would take over four existing Valemaxes from the mining company. 

The Chinese government has yet to officially lift its ban on Vale's very-large ore carriers (VLOC), despite the fact that one such vessel entered the Port Dongjiakou in Qingdao last month, making it the first Valemax to do so since April 2013.

Beijing banned the carriers back in 2011, shortly after the mega-carriers began operations. 

At the time, officials, having done so on the advice of China's shipping firms and steel industry, feared the impact of the carriers on supply and prices.

The ban was indefinitely extended early this year after China's port authority declared that the maximum capacity of ships allowed to berth would be capped at 250,000 DWT, a far cry from a Valemax's 400,000 DWT. 

Many of Vale's carriers were constructed in China, with the Shanghai Merchant Ship Design & Research Institute having also announced earlier this year designs for 405,000-DWT fuel-saving VLOCs.