MOL, Vale Sign Long-term Transport Contract for 2 VLOCs

November 24, 2010

TOKYO - Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. (MOL; President: Koichi Muto) today announced the signing of a long-term transport contract with Vale International SA, a subsidiary of Vale S.A. for two very large ore carriers (VLOCs) on November 18. Two 300,000 DWT-class newbuilding vessels, which will be constructed at Universal Shipbuilding Corporation and slated for completion in 2012 and 2013, will serve the Vale-China shuttle service, transporting iron ore for 25 years.

Long-term contracts with stable and large iron ore mining companies will help secure cashflow stability for MOL and allow the company to develop more stable portfolio strategies as it moves ahead. Vale is the second largest metals and mining company being amongst the 30 largest publicly traded companies in the world. Vale is also the largest iron ore producer in the world with an expected production of 311 million tons in 2011 and the largest private sector company in Latin America.
MOL, as one of the world's largest Cape-size bulker operators, already operates five 300,000-class VLOCs and will continue to take a proactive stance in VLOC operation to meet growing demand of iron ore transport and optimize the use of large vessels backed by an advanced safety management structure and fleet scale to continually offer safe, reliable ocean transport services.