China bans ships exceeding official capacity

China’s Ministry of Transport issued a blanket ban on all ships exceeding its approved capacity limit from docking in Chinese ports, a blow to the plans of Brazilian iron ore giant Vale (VALE.NYSE, 6210.HKG, VALE.BMAD), Reuters reported. Giant ships weighing over the official capacity limit of 300,000 tons were previously assessed and granted approval on a case-by-case basis, which previously allowed Vale’s new 388,000 ton iron ore Valemax carriers to dock at Dalian port in northeastern China. However, that policy drew fire from the China Shipowners Association, which claimed that the firm’s mega-ship was a “Trojan horse” that would lead it to supplant China’s position in the shipping and iron ore markets. The Ministry of Transport said that the decision was made for both safety reasons and because of the downturn in the shipping industry. Vale will now have to use a transshipment hub in the Philippines to transport iron ore to China.