Brazilian miner and iron ore producer Vale said on Friday it is commissioning its CN6 ship loader, located at its Ponta da Madeira terminal in Sao Luis, Maranhao state, following a five-month maintenance period.
The maintenance was due to a fire earlier this year, which hit the CN6 ship loader structure. At the time, Vale denied claims by analysts that the halt at the CN6 ship loader would affect iron ore supplies. Vale said on Friday it replaced 60 percent of the components of CN6 ship loader. It added the maintenance works “didn’t impact (Vale’s) monthly iron ore shipments.”
Despite the halt at the CN6 ship loader, Vale continued iron ore loading activity at its CN7 ship loader, which wasn’t affected by the fire. The Ponta da Madeira terminal has an iron ore exporting capacity of 230 million mt/year, three piers, five berthing docks and eight ship loaders.