VALE ITALIA

Today's SotD is world's largest ore carrier Vale Italia (IMO: 9572331, Port of Registry: Singapore). She was delivered in October 2011 from builder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd, South Korea to her owners, Brazilian mining corporation Vale S.A.. The vessel is 362 meters long, 65 meters wide and has a maximum draught of 23 meters. These dimensions give the vessel a deadweight of 402,000 tons. The Vale Italia is propelled by a single MAN B&W 7S80ME-C8 two-stroke low-speed diesel engine directly coupled to a fixed-pitch propeller. The main engine, which has a maximum output of 29,260 kilowatts (39,240 hp) at 78 rpm, burns 96.7 tons of heavy fuel oil per day. However, due to the large size of the vessel the emissions per cargo ton-mile are very low, making the Vale Brasil in fact one of the most efficient long-distance dry bulk carriers in service, and for this reason the ship received the Clean Ship award of 2011 in the Norwegian shipping exhibition Nor-Shipping. These so-called Valemax vessels have seven cargo holds with a total gross volume of almost 220,000 cubic metres.

Source: Shipspotting.com Copyright: Charran

Vale has reported a 35 % drop in emissions per ton of cargo in comparison to older ships. Her service speed is 15.4 knots (source: Wikipedia). The Vale Italia is one of the successors of the Berge Stahl as the largest ore carrier in the world. She is 20 meters longer and 1.5 meters wider, giving the vessel a deadweight that is 40,000 higher than the Berge Stahl.

The Vale Italia arrived this morning at the EECV Terminal where she will stay for unloading her cargo of iron ore originating form Ponta da Madeira for about 5 days.

Click here for the current position of the Vale Italia