Following the iron ore trade. Also in this issue: The iron ore mine, The port and The steel works.
All text and photographs: Magne A. Røe, except where otherwise stated.Date: 08 February 2008
Ore carrier M/S Berge Nord: 15 trips Canada to Rotterdam per year
The DNV-classed M/S Berge Nord was built at the HHI yard in Korea. The ship makes 15 round trips each year from Rotterdam to Canada to load the ship to capacity with iron ore. The ship has seven cargo holds. In Rotterdam it takes about three days to discharge this cargo. We met M/S Berge Nord at the Ertsoverslagbedrijf Europoort, a terminal that is fully owned by ThyssenKrupp of Germany in the Port of Rotterdam.
LKAB, Kiruna: Travelling a kilometre down into solid rock for iron ore
We have descended 1,175 metres into solid rock on a road which spirals down at a rather steep incline, 10 metres down for every 100 metres travelled. This level is for the time being the bottom of LKAB’s Kiruna iron ore mine.
LKAB, Narvik: Riding downhill with 4,500 tons of iron ore
Katarina Lundström is a determined lady, controlling 300 tons of two back-to-back locomotives. These are the world’s most powerful electrical locomotives, capable of a total output of 10,800 kW. By pushing a small joystick on the control panel, she indicates to the locomotives how much power she wants for the total of 24 wheels to move 52 iron-pellet-filled cars each carrying 80 tons of iron ore.
EMO: A vital part of the European supply chain
EMO, in the Port of Rotterdam, unloads about 35 million tons of bulk cargo a year, split between 20 million tons of coal and 15 million tons of iron ore. Six million tons were stored at the facility when we visited in mid-October; about three million of iron ore and the same volume of coal, according to Dick A. van Doorn, Managing Director of EMO. The iron ore is shipped to steelworks in Europe, and the coal is mostly for electrical power plants, making EMO an important part of the European energy supply chain.
Ertsoverslagbedrijft Europort: Iron ore from 121 ships transferred to 11,609 barges
At the huge terminal in Rotterdam last year, 121 seagoing vessel movements unloaded iron ore which was then transferred to 11,609 barge movements travelling the inland waterways to the steelworks in Germany.
The port of Rotterdam: 80,000 movements by seagoing vessels and 300,000 movements by inland ships take place annually
The Port of Rotterdam offers employment to some 60,000 locals, and another 250,000 elsewhere in The Netherlands. The direct gross added value of the port and industrial area amounts to 6.2 billion, corresponding to nearly 10% of the Dutch Gross National Product. The volume passing through Rotterdam equals approximately that of the second, third and fourth largest ports in Europe – Antwerp, Hamburg and Marseille – combined.
Corus Steelworks, IJmuiden: Steel for the packaging, car and construction industries
“Statistically there should be a vessel here today, as we have 184 bulk carriers – mostly Panamax and Capesize – coming to our plant and quay every year, and it normally takes four days to discharge the cargo,” says Jaap Naujoks, Harbour Shift Supervisor of Corus Steelworks, IJmuiden. On the day of our visit, the berth for the large bulk carriers is empty, with a ship due in at 10 pm.
IACS Common Structural Rules for Bulk Carriers
In June 2003, the IACS council responded to initiatives by the IMO and industry and decided to develop a set of common Rules for both oil tankers and bulk carriers. The first draft was issued in July 2004 and, after receiving a large volume of industry comments, a second draft was issued in April 2005. The second draft was open for comments until end of September; a large number of comments have been submitted. The main contributors seem to be DNV and the Greek Union of Shipping.
Bulk market
Mixed short term outlook for dry bulk as the steel industry adjusts to reality