Nippon Steel Shipping Plans Regular Raw Material Delivery with Usiminas

Nippon Steel Shipping finished spot delivery of Australian coal to Usiminas of Brazil last week. Usiminas imported coal for the first time by a dedicated large vessel and succeeded in cost reduction by 40% compared with a medium-size vessel. Nippon Steel Shipping plans to establish a regular delivery system to transport Australian coal to Usiminas and bring Brazilian iron ore to Nippon Steel in Japan in order to lower delivery cost. Nippon Steel Shipping tries to establish more efficient delivery network of raw materials in cooperation with Nippon Steel.

Usiminas held a reception on April 15th when Nippon Steel Shipping’s 180,000-tonne vessel arrived. This is the first case for Usiminas to use a large vessel without cooperation with other Brazilian steel makers. The delivery cost lowered to US$ 25 per tonne from previous US$ 42 by using 70,000-tonne class Panamax vessel.

Nippon Steel Shipping has delivered coal to Usiminas at 300,000 tonnes per year by a Panamax vessel, now seeking a regular delivery contract by a large vessel with Usiminas. Usiminas consumes coal at 4.5-5.0 million tonnes per year, 50% of which is purchased from Australia. Usiminas’ coal usage is expected to increase if the firm’s output expansion plan restarts.