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The vessel, named Shagang Sunshine, will be chartered exclusively to Shagang Shipping Co to ship iron ore and coal for the steelmaker for the next 20 years, Namura said in its latest announcement.
The vessel is 329.95 metres long and 57 metres wide, with a fully loaded draft of 18 metres in the summer.
“The shallow draft of the vessel is favourable at ports in Western Australia, because there are limitations on the load draft of ships transporting ore. In a way, this kind of vessels could expand handling capacity at the ports,” a source at Shagang said.
“When the iron ore market goes up, the large carriers will help steelmakers lower costs and enhance efficiency, but when the market weakens, as it is now, the large carriers could mean more risks to the mills,” an iron ore trader in Shanghai said.