When the MV Bokm Guiba sailed from her yard in Qingdao on 27th July it not only marked the last of 50 of 325,000 DWT so called Guiba-Max design, but for the first time this century there are no pending VLOC’s on the orderbook. The biggest concentration in VLOC deliveries was between 2008-2013 on the back of China’s huge growth in iron ore imports with 179 vessels delivered in just 6 years. In total there are now 265 VLOC’s in service of 82 MDWT with 142 built in China, 76 in Japan and a further 47 in South Korea.

Since 2018 the VLOC orderbook has been dominated by the Guiba-max series and 33 new generation 400,000 deadweight Valemax; these 83 vessels total 31.45 MDWT and with an annual cargo capacity of around 100 MMT of Brazilian iron added in just 5 years. Add a further 35 older generation Valemax and the total cargo carrying capacity is closer to 150 MMT annually going forward before even considering the balance 147 varied VLOC’s of other designs most of which are also carrying Brazilian iron ore.

Clearly now that all these VLOC’s are delivered (and Vale is considering a further series of dual fuel Valemax), the owners of conventional Capesize will be faced with carrying a reduced proportion of the c350 MMT annual Brazilian iron ore exports in future, particularly considering the average age of the VLOC fleet is just over 7 years of age.