Brazilian-owned iron ore producer Vale (VALE.NYSE) plans to grow its shipping fleet in order to double shipments to China in the next five years, Bloomberg reported. “With the increase in export volume, we will need to hire more ships or buy them, whatever is more efficient from a financial point of view,” Jose Carlos Martins, Vale’s head of ferrous metals, said on Thursday. Vale in 2011 started operating Valemax vessels, the world’s biggest iron-ore carrier, to reduce shipping costs to Asia. However, the company has yet to convince China’s authorities to allow the vessels to anchor at Chinese ports because of safety concerns.
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