China Shipping Development Co., Ltd., the country's biggest listed shipping company, has signed long-term pacts with domestic steelmakers, participating in iron ore transportation. The company under the wing of China Shipping (Group) Company, one of the biggest shipping groups in the country, has strived to strengthen its large bulk cargo shipping fleet, in particular 230,000- and 300,000-tonnage ore vessels.
On October 26, 2006, China Shipping Development entered into strategic cooperation with Shougang Group, an iron and steel giant based in Beijing. Both sides inked a 15-year agreement upon the shipping of iron ore of up to 37 million tons in total. On January 26, 2007, the shipping company formed a strategic relationship with Shanghai Baosteel Group Corp., one of the biggest steelmakers and located in Shanghai, a metropolis Eastern China. Both sides wrapped up an agreement, under which China Shipping Development would ship iron ore of 37 million tons for Baosteel during a period of 15 years. On October 19, 2007, the shipping company tied up with another iron and steel titan Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Corp., basted in Wuhan, capital of the central province of Hubei. It will carry a total of 170 million-ton iron ore in 15 to 20 years for the steelmaker, according to the signed agreement. Meanwhile, China Shipping Development promised to put over- 200,000-tonnage ships into ironstone transportation and decide the prices in the light of international rules. On February 2, 2007, the Shanghai-listed company signed a shipbuilding agreement with CSSC Guangzhou Longxue Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., a unit of the country's shipbuilding heavyweight China'State'Shipbuilding Corp. CSSC Guangzhou Longxue, located in Guangzhou, capital of the coastal province Guangdong in Southern China, will build four 230,000-tonnage VLOCs (very large ore carriers) for the shipping company. On October 22, 2007, it inked an agreement with Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd., a leading shipbuilder based in the northeastern province of Liaoning. The latter will build four 300,000-tonnage VLOCs, which the shipping company will use to carry iron ore on Sino-Brazilian routes. On October 27, 2007, China Shipping Development signed an agreement with CSSC Guangzhou Longxue upon the building of another four 230,000-tonnage VLOCs. In recent years, China has seen a rapid growth in iron ore import. The import totaled 275 million tons in 2005, up 32.3 percent year on year, and 326 million tons in 2006, up 18.6 percent. The figure jumped 14.9 percent to more than 284 million tons in the first nine months of this year, and is estimated to outnumber 500 million tons in 2010.
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