Iron ore giant Vale Brazil has informed that a fire occurred on January 14, a dock loader at the Ponta da Madeira maritime port in Saint Louis, northeast of Brazil.
The company said the fire brigade started immediately and the fire was put out without anyone being injured or causing environmental damage. Vale said the port will continue to operate and will not affect the monthly iron ore shipment plan.
Cape Madrid Port is one of the main assets of the Vale and one of the most important ports for shipment of iron ore and manganese in the world. Vale has five terminals in Cape Madrid Port with a shipment capacity of about 230 million tons per year. Cape Madrid Port is also one of the largest ports in Brazil that can handle super-large ore sand ships (valemax).
Sources said that the accident terminal may need to be suspended for several months, and the capacity of 32 million tons of iron ore in Cape Madrid Port is expected to be affected in 2021.
Iron ore was the best performing commodity last year, with iron ore prices rising 80% during 2020 due to insufficient supply of iron ore in Brazil and strong demand in China's steel industry. In addition, the rise in iron ore prices continued to this year, and this week the iron ore prices reached the highest level since September 2011. On January 18, the benchmark price of China's imported iron ore was above US$170 per ton, and Brazil's high-grade iron ore reached a record US$195.30 per ton.
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