淡水河谷超大型矿砂船有望靠泊中国港口
Brazilian miner Vale reached a deal on Friday to expand its fleet of extremely large ships for carrying iron ore, following a truce with China’s largest shipping company that raised the prospect of the vessels being allowed to dock at Chinese ports.
淡水河谷(Vale)周五达成了扩充其超大型铁矿石运输船船队的协议，此前这家巴西矿商与中国最大航运公司达成了妥协，使此类船舶有可能获准靠泊中国港口。
The very large ore carriers or VLOCs – dubbed Valemax in the shipping industry – were developed by Vale to help reduce its shipping costs, which are higher than its two Australian rivals, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, because of Brazil’s greater distance from Asian customers.
在航运业被称为Valemax的超大型矿砂船(VLOC)是由淡水河谷开发的，目的是帮助降低其运输成本。由于巴西距亚洲客户的距离更为遥远，淡水河谷的运输成本要高于它的两个澳大利亚竞争对手——力拓(Rio Tinto)和必和必拓(BHP Billiton)。But only the maiden ship had docked in China in 2011 when the Chinese Ministry of Transport banned them from Chinese ports, citing technical issues.
但Valemax只在2011年处女航时靠泊过中国港口，之后中国交通部以技术问题为由，不让此型船舶进入中国港口。
VLOCs are expected to be allowed back into Chinese ports this year after Vale reached an agreement this month with Cosco, China’s largest shipping group.
淡水河谷本月与中国最大航运集团中远(Cosco)达成协议后，预计超大型矿砂船年内将被允许靠泊中国港口。Cosco had previously lobbied against VLOCs having access to Chinese ports, but Vale has agreed to transfer ownership of four of these vessels to the Chinese company. Cosco will also commission the building of a further 10 VLOCs.
中远此前曾游说反对超大型矿砂船进入中国港口，但淡水河谷同意将4艘此型船舶的所有权转让给中远。中远还将委托建造另外10艘超大型矿砂船。Vale will charter all 14 VLOCs from Cosco over the next 25 years. It has similar charter agreements with other shipping companies for 15 of the 31 VLOCs in the Vale fleet.
淡水河谷将在未来25年里向中远租用上述14艘超大型矿砂船。它与其他航运公司订立了类似的租船合同，涵盖淡水河谷船队31艘超大型矿砂船中的15艘。Meanwhile, China Merchants Group, a Chinese conglomerate, will build 10 VLOCs and charter them to Vale over 25 years, Vale said on Friday.
与此同时，淡水河谷周五表示，中国企业集团——招商局集团(China Merchants Group)将建造10艘超大型矿砂船，并将它们租给淡水河谷。China’s shipping industry had lobbied against the VLOCs while freight rates were at their height, forcing Vale to transfer ore to smaller ships at ports including Subic Bay in the Philippines.
前些年运费较高时，中国航运业曾游说反对超大型矿砂船，迫使淡水河谷在菲律宾苏比克湾等港口将铁矿石转移至较小的船舶。Lower shipping costs stemming from its use of VLOCs will help Vale stay competitive as a growing glut in world iron ore mining capacity causes prices to drop.
随着世界铁矿石产能过剩现象越来越严重、导致价格下跌，超大型矿砂船所带来的较低运输成本将有助于淡水河谷保持竞争力。As iron ore output grows, an economic slowdown in China is depressing steel demand.
在铁矿石产量增长之际，中国却出现经济放缓，这种局面抑制了钢铁需求。
